Special Chronicles
by 1358456
Summary: A story based on Pokémon Special, the manga. A compilation of random events that happen to the Dex Holders as they hang out and form intergenerational friendship. With no evil and no personal conflicts to deal with, the Dex Holders are free to just hang around and do all sorts of things. Repurposed from backstory compilation, from chapter 3 and onwards. Discontinued.
1. In Utter Darkness

**Welcome to my very last story beginning with "Special". Or at least as far as I know. To put it simply, this is a compilation of various backstories that will be assumed to have already taken place prior to all the other stories. So reading this may help understand the minor references and/or miscellaneous events.**

**And before going any further, read EVERYTHING on my profile page. If you have a complaint about something, I will give you a 90% guarantee that it was already addressed on the profile page and/or my Tumblr blog, which is also listed in the profile page. The "story" tag in the Tumblr blog helps out. If you can't find the solution to your complaint, then feel free to say it. And I will answer it on the Tumblr blog, and if I feel it's worth clearing up, I will post that solution/explanation on the profile page. So… Read. The. Profile.**

**This chapter is designed for one thing: clearing up Blue's personality. Blue's personality is rather "inconsistent" in my stories, as she has several distinct characteristics. So this chapter has been made to show what I assume Blue had gone through, from the kidnapping to the "status quo" time period. The third part of the triple-Blue. Check my Tumblr.**

* * *

In Utter Darkness:

Ecruteak City, Johto…

The Ho-oh swooped down towards the roof of the Tin Tower and dropped off a little girl, Blue. The 5 year old girl looked around in panic, seeing nothing more than masked figures approaching her. This one with a huge cloak approached her menacingly, causing her to tremble and back away. Some of the other figures surrounded her, preventing her from trying to escape. Blue could only watch in terror as the masked man put a similar looking mask on her face. He started to laugh as he backed away.

Blue desperately tried to think of a way out of this. But suddenly, someone appeared in her vision, running up to her. A much younger looking boy. He had a mask on too, but he still looked so scared, and he was reached up to her for support. She quickly embraced him when he came close. He was clearly looking up to her for help, so she was going to provide it. From this point on, she would look after him and together, they would survive this…

…

The Mask of Ice created a long stick made of ice. Blue saw the stick form and immediately flinched, as she knew what was coming. And as expected, the man struck the 6 year old girl on the arm with the stick.

"Ah!"

"How many times do I have to tell you?!" the Mask of Ice yelled. "Do not get attached to your Pokémon! They are mere tools of war! They will be used for their potential and nothing more. They will fight as you command. They will take hits as you command. And they will break. And they will be replaced with another. So don't get attached!"

Blue clenched her eyes shut and bit her lower lip so she wouldn't cry. Her arm hurt a lot and she was so scared… but she had to stand firm.

"Don't get attached to anything! Pokémon will be lost and replaced. Friends will hinder you and must be abandoned or they will be used against you. Family will only drag you down. So don't get attached to anything! Ever! Remember that the only being you can trust is yourself."

Eventually, the training session ended and Blue was able to return to her "room" where she would be able to stay in solitude. She curled up into a ball and tried to organize her thoughts. … She wanted to go home. Where was it called? Pallet Town? Kanto? …

As she tried to stay calm and work on recovering her memories, she heard a faint sniffle from the outside. She blinked a few times to return to "reality". That sniffle sounded very young… But she was the second youngest here. Meaning…

Blue opened the door and spotted Silver slowly walking while rubbing his eyes. She called him Silver because his eyes were silver in color, but he had a handkerchief that said "Silver" on it, so that was clearly his name. For a 3 year old, he didn't cry as much. But he still did every now and then, like he was now. Blue sighed and gently embraced the child and pulled him into her cell/room. She sat on the floor with him and patted him on the shoulders.

"I hate it here," Silver muttered. "I want to go home."

Blue felt tears welling in her eyes, but couldn't let them fall. She bit her lower lip and forced herself to not cry. For the sake of Silver. If she cried now, he'd feel worse… she had to cheer him up.

"We all want to go home," she said quietly. "And someday, we will. Until then, we have to bide our time… We have to endure this…"

"But I'm scared," the little boy said as he started to cry more.

Blue felt her tears streaming down her cheeks behind the mask she had to wear. She berated herself for being so weak and tilted her head slightly so that Silver wouldn't be able to see her cry. Not that he could, since he was crying himself and the masks covered up the tears.

"I know," Blue managed to say without having her voice shake. She simply hugged the little boy closer. He was her only care in the world. And vice versa. So she had to be there with him for his own good. She had to help him…

Silver buried his face into Blue's shoulder and cried. The girl gently patted him on the back and with her fingers, wiped away her own tears from behind his head. She clenched her teeth and glared at the icy wall. She would survive this… just for Silver. If she wasn't here either, he had absolutely no one left to rely on.

…

Blue stared at her own reflection on the small puddle of water on the ground. … 7 years old. So it's been 2 years since she was kidnapped. … And she had lost hope of escaping and returning to her family. She missed them so much, even though she couldn't remember them. She recalled having them and found solace and misery in knowing that they would be looking for her. Solace in that she had someone looking for her, caring for her. And misery in that she was causing them pain. They wouldn't find her. It was all pointless.

She stared up at the sky. The clear cloudless sky. People would usually say that looking at the clear sky would give them hope. Hope? What hope?

Blue let out a long sigh. Sometimes, she wished that she didn't have any parents. At least knowing that no one else was miserable thanks to her kidnapping would've given her comfort.

Everything seemed so… dull. Devoid of life. Pointless. In the end, everything was pointless. A happy life would only make the oncoming sadness feel a lot worse.

Blue stopped her thoughts when she spotted Silver in the distance. He didn't cry anymore. He stopped a few months ago. Something inside him either broke, or he kept all of his feelings pent up. Like her. … That wasn't good. Not for someone his age. Or her age, for that matter, but she had already given up on herself. It was too late for her to have a normal life now… But maybe it wasn't too late for Silver. If he escaped quickly enough, all of the memories of the kidnapping might be erased over time.

Blue bit her lower lip again. There it was then. Her only purpose. She had to get him away from this place. She had to help him escape. But he wouldn't be able to go far all alone. So she had to escape with him. If she had to escape as well, then she had to put up a cheerful façade around Silver. So he'd think that she still had hope. Which would get him to hold onto his own hopes.

…

9 years old… So it's been 4 years since the kidnapping. And 2 years since she maintained her cheerful façade for Silver's sake. And because Silver was with her almost every waking hour of the day, she didn't know what was her real self and what was the façade she created anymore. But she didn't care. Once she escaped captivity with Silver, she'd help him find his family. And then she'd disappear and sort out her own life.

Silver had changed. And that bothered her. He became very quiet, and calmly assessed everything going on. He still had occasional recklessness, but not as much as a 6 year old boy should have. And that really bothered Blue. Was it too late? She had decided that things were too late for her when she was 6. And now, Silver was 6. Did he give up on himself too? Did she stall too long in trying to make a perfect escape?

Blue shook her head. No. She can't be too late. If Silver gave up on his life, then she had no purpose either. And she could not let him turn out like her. Ever. If he lost hope, she'd give him hope. If he gave up, she'd give him reason to keep fighting…

And she had to hurry. She had to escape before things were too late. But at least she had a plan. A plan that took 2 years in the making. A plan that was formulated from studying the Mask of Ice for 2 years straight. All of his routines, all of his schedules. And what he was aiming for. Of course, Blue didn't know his goals for sure, but she could make a rough guess. Control of time. With two large feathers, known as the Rainbow and Silver Wings. She didn't know _how_ two feathers allowed someone to control time, but she didn't care. She'd steal them as a last minute middle finger to the Mask of Ice before she escaped.

Blue calmed herself down and went to find Silver. It was time. Time to escape. This was the exact moment when the Mask of Ice was the most worn out from his routines. His special routines that he took for his ultimate goal. It was now or never.

Of course, it was possible that he took extra precaution around this time. After all, he was the one who taught her to be prepared for anything. So he could have some sort of defense system that prevented people from escaping. Only one way to find out. Even if her plans failed and she was killed, she would be happy as long as Silver got out.

…

Blue stared at Silver. Finally, she could see him without the mask. And she could see his cold complexion. … Was she really too late? Perhaps. But at the same time, Silver's expression significantly lightened whenever he was with her. So she had to stay cheerful and happy around him. And maybe eventually, he would lower his guard and start to accept hope.

"Alright! It's time for us to start living in the outside world," she said with a faked cheerful tone.

"What should we do first?" Silver asked.

Blue grimaced a little. This wasn't the kind of a question a kid asked his guardian. This wasn't one of those "hopeful" questions. He wasn't asking what fun things he should do now that he's free. No. He was asking what he should do to survive right now. He was being practical. Not something a normal 7 year old boy does. … Or at least that's what she figured. She had never been around normal people, so…

"We need to find where you lived before you were kidnapped, Silver," Blue said warmly. "We need to get you back home."

"I don't remember anything," Silver said without even blinking. "So I have no reason to go to them."

Blue felt tears threatening to form in her eyes. '_Ah… I was too late…_' "In that case…" She bit her lower lip for a split second. "… Stay with me, Silver. I don't remember who I was before the kidnapping either. And right now, neither of us are in any condition to start digging up our past. So for the time being, we should focus on finding a place to live and getting money so we can buy food and water."

Silver slowly nodded. "Okay. I think we should make hidden bases around various locales. That way, we can live undeterred by anyone else and that way, we won't be spotted."

Blue faked a smile even though she was feeling so much remorse from Silver's change. Fine. If this had to happen, then she couldn't let him do the dirty work. Getting money in the world wasn't going to be easy. Obviously jobs were out of the question. So stealing and begging were the only options. Blue sighed. She won't let Silver turn into a thief. No. He had to have a bright future. She would do the dirty work for him. Even if everyone in the world hated her for this, she had to make sure Silver did not get any of the blame… Silver had to remain pure… clean…

She had the advantage. She could use charm. He could not. So she'd be able to trick people and scam them if the right opportunity presented itself. Blue gently patted Silver on the shoulder.

"… Let's get started, then. Silver, try to make our shelter. I'll… get the money that we can use…"

…

Blue looked up at the sky. Something that she did every now and then to collect her thoughts. The skies were cloudless and bright. The symbols of hope. … Hope… and bright life. She wondered if those things were out there for her. She never gave them any thought as she had given up on them years ago. But now, for the first time in her life, she had reason for hope.

And this was only because she met _him_. Red. At first, she treated him like she treated everyone else. False interest, fake tears, charm, and steal from him without second thought. Normally, she'd just steal without using people's emotions against them. But Red… was different. She envied him so much. While she was kidnapped and forced through hell, he lived peacefully in his home. And he even received a Pokédex and went out on a journey. … She wanted to live like that. So she stole a Squirtle and _mimicked_ the journey. Mainly by following Red so that she could at least feed off of his adventures. She'd never feel the joy of being trusted like that, but she could watch someone else enjoy it and just… envy that. But then he caught up with her for her thefts and let her go thanks to his sense of pride and honor. She used that to her advantage and stole from him again. But then he helped her against Team Rocket. Even though she basically forced him to help her, he still did and didn't try to attack her for what she did.

… And in the continued fight against Team Rocket, he actually called her a friend. … Friend. Hearing that brought a sudden change in her life. And her views of the world. A stranger had called her a friend. Someone who had more reason to hate her than most called her a friend and protected her. … Maybe he was the key. He was her only method of living a normal life. She had to stay friends with him…

Then Prof. Oak forgave her for stealing a Squirtle from him, and even gave her a Pokédex. … Someone had finally trusted her with something. Another new feeling. And at that moment, she finally cried in front of people, for the first time in years.

From that point on, she noticed a few changes to herself. Reasons to smile, reasons to fight evil, reasons to hope and live. And even… someone to love. No, it wasn't Red. It was Green. Of course, he didn't seem to give a rat's ass about her. But he treated her as an ally and nothing more. And for the time being, that would have to do.

Once her life had settled down, she began to actively try to regain her old life and started to seek out her parents. Of course, this was harder than it appeared. And in the meantime, her first friend had disappeared. So she did all she could to find him. Running into Yellow, sending her on a journey and then overlooking her progress… all that to find her old friend. He meant a lot to her, and she owed him everything.

And once things have settled again, she resumed her task. A personal task that was divided up into two main sections and the conclusion. One, take revenge against the Mask of Ice. And two, overcome her phobia of birds. That way, she could put her ugly past behind her and look forward to a new life.

She succeeded in her task after a long journey. And she had her revenge along with Silver. And there, she felt truly happy. Happy that she now had so many people to call friends. Happy that she had people who looked up to her as a senior. And happy that Silver had finally found friends of his own.

Now she only had one more thing to do to set everything right. She had to find her parents.

But of course, that wasn't as easy as she thought. She first felt her old bad luck returning when her parents were kidnapped right in front of her while she watched helplessly. She passed out and when she woke up, she was chased by an angry mob out of the hospital without even knowing why. She was reminded of her days right after escaping Mask of Ice. She had to evade people who hated her for things that weren't necessarily her fault.

But she was used to it. Even though she couldn't even walk straight and random people were basically trying to kill her, she didn't feel anything she never felt before. She accepted her life for what it was.

After another hectic event, she was about to reunite with her parents but was turned into stone instead. And when she woke up from that, she was caught in another hectic event. Though she was happy that she had met more of her juniors, she still had to finish her last objective in life. And that one… was a disappointment.

Her parents… were not what she expected. At all. She understood them, of course. They lost a 5 year old daughter. And that daughter came back as a 17 year old girl who had been through all sorts of stuff. So she could understand the awkwardness, unfamiliarity, and shock that her parents were feeling. She admitted that she wasn't behaving like a normal 17 year old girl. No. She had matured way too much and way too early.

And she hated being treated like a kid. Because the only person who had ever treated her like that was the Mask of Ice. And now, her parents were doing the same. Obviously, she was going to hate them. But she tried to be reasonable and hoped that her parents would start to accept her. They didn't.

And little by little, she began to realize that the cheerful expression she kept on around the other Dex Holders was a façade. Like the one she had in front of Silver years ago to ensure that he held onto his hopes. But now, it was for the good of the other Dex Holders. And whenever she was left alone, she thought about her past and her present. … She sure came a long way. It would be selfish of her to want anything more. Normal life was now impossible as a Dex Holder. Normal parents were impossible as well, thanks to the kidnapping. And a normal personal life was also impossible because of herself.

So Blue gave up on hope once more. She deemed that everything she wanted was just greed and forced herself to accept what she had, as things were still incomparably better than her past. But things kept deteriorating.

Silver had reunited with his father at long last after a grueling fight against rogue Team Rocket and Arceus. She was happy for him, but at the same time, afraid of his reactions, knowing that the enemy's boss was his father. But luckily, Giovanni treated Silver with respect and did nothing that would go directly against him. The Rocket leader's paternal care was overflowing. Blue understood. The man had lost his only son, and did everything in his power to get him back. He tried to take over the world so that he could find his son faster. He took control of an incredibly powerful Psychic type to find his son. And once he finally found him, he sacrificed his own wellbeing to protect him. His own health deteriorated even more as an expense but he never mentioned it. And once Silver made his position clear, Giovanni respected his choice. Something that Blue envied so much…

Every time she felt envy, she reminded herself that it was just her greed. The very notion of envying someone was just her being greedy. She berated herself repeatedly and did her best to steer her thoughts away. Her life was still better than the days under the Mask of Ice.

The other Dex Holders weren't exactly helping her out. While she felt friendship and care from them (most of the time), she hated how they all suspected her for everything. Every time she tried to help someone, she was suspected of gaining something first. She could barely handle her friends doing that to her. Just barely. But… Green did it too. And that was too painful.

She had already concluded that her crush on him was just her greed. Which was why she never explicitly said it to him. She accepted that he would eventually fall in love with someone else. It was very painful, but she accepted it. She would just have to be happy with being a friend. And yet, he kept thinking that she was being greedy…

She had concluded that wanting someone to care for her was just her being selfish. She wanted someone to look after her, worry about her, and comfort her in times of need. Similar to how she was caring for Silver, but more deeply and more intimately. But no. That kind of care was denied to her. And she accepted it. No one would care for her, and she'd just be alone forever. Fine. She never had someone like that anyways. She could go on longer like this.

But every time the other Dex Holders (especially Green) thought and hinted that she was being greedy, she got the urge to disappear and stick a knife in her throat. It was a mix of shame and anger. Shame for having the others see and point out something that she was already berating herself with, and anger from the others not understanding her. She had already given up in making her own life better, and resorted to helping out others to distract herself. How was that being greedy? Why did they still suspect her? … Why did Green still suspect her?

She wanted him to be happy. To do that, she had to stay happy around him. If she did not hide her true feelings, then she'd just be making everyone around her feel down. So she tried to stay cheerful. Keep that façade up. But it was hard. Faking hope before even having it was one thing. Faking hope after losing it all again was another. So she needed to feel truly happy as her façade wouldn't last. And to do that, she needed to spend more time with Green. Be close to him. And feed on that tiny hope that he would like her too.

But that was just her stupidity and naivety. Every time she saw him, he showed no signs of welcoming her. If anything, he appeared annoyed at her presence. Every time she visited him, his response was the same.

"What do you want, Blue?"

'_I just want to spend time with you… is that so wrong? Is everything I do so wrong and annoying?_'

Before long, Blue stopped trying. She stopped visiting him, as she couldn't handle it any longer. Her façade couldn't last forever.

And before she knew it, she stopped visiting anyone else. She was afraid to see them again. Afraid that they'll call her greedy or selfish and give her another push towards sticking a knife in her throat. Of course, they never said it, but they didn't have to. She could tell what they were thinking. What they felt about her. Attention seeker, attention hog, selfish, greedy, annoying…

Blue couldn't understand them. How was she being an attention seeker and an attention hog when here she was, purposely hiding all the miseries in her life so that she wouldn't bother anyone? She was losing her friends. The longer she spent away from them, the more they'd drift away from her. But if she got close to them, she'd feel them thinking that she was being annoying or greedy and selfish. And she'd lose them faster. One way or the other, she'd lose them. How quickly was up to her.

Blue simply lived her life, day by day, without thinking about it. It was better for her. Ignorance was bliss, as they say, and she wanted to be happy. Occasionally, she looked up at the sky and wondered if this was what she had fought for. What she had escaped for. Technically, she escaped only for Silver's sake, but she did have a faint sliver of hope that she would be happy too. … But was this really it? Blue didn't want to think about it because it was painful. And because of that, she didn't know why she was still here. Waiting. For something to come into her life, whether it was good or bad. She stared at her reflection through the mirror. She admitted that she looked cold. But it was her default expression whenever she was alone, when her façade wasn't up.

What was she waiting for? … Only two things could come for her. Either something really bad would happen and convince her to throw away everything in life and vanish, or something really good would happen which would get her to actually start enjoying life and look forward to a better future. Until then, everything was in a standstill. Her life had no purpose. And she had nothing to look forward to. But at the same time, things were maintainable… barely. She found just enough in life to continue with it. It was a delicate balance.

But it also meant that her life was pointless. She had no goals in life. There was nothing more she could ask for without thinking that it was pure greed. Only her foolishness and naïve hopes have kept her here. Until she finally decided to throw it all away and vanish. Or until she finally found a reason to stay and look forward to a better future.

Blue looked up at the sky and sighed. Why couldn't she just leave? What kept her bound to her pointless life? All she had to do was go and tell Green how she felt. Confess to him. And his reactions would show her the way. If he loved her too, then she had more than enough reasons to stay and fight towards a bright life. If he did not, then she had her incentive to simply leave her old life behind completely. Because things would then be way too awkward between them, and she wouldn't be able to stay around him at all because of it. Not that she was particularly close to him right now. She still had a sliver of hope that one day, she would be. If she failed her confession, that hope would be gone.

But she didn't confess to him. She couldn't. Why? It was simple. She got too attached. She was afraid of losing everything. Afraid of being forced to abandon everything. And she was afraid of getting her heart broken. She didn't want to be plunged into utter darkness. Not again. She knew that she was already heading there slowly. But she didn't want to risk accelerating it.

And… she was certain that he did not like her. She couldn't confess to him because he would reject her with a 99.99% certainty. And she didn't know if her heart could handle being broken once more.

Blue put on a bitter smile as she berated her inability to do anything. … What did Pryce tell her all those years ago? Don't get attached. Well, this happened because she didn't listen to his advice. She was still too attached to everyone and she didn't have nearly enough courage to cut loose.

… Maybe soon, she'll find a reason to cut loose. Or maybe she'll find a reason to grab onto it with all of her strength… hopefully. But until then, she had to maintain her cheerful façade to the best of her abilities.

* * *

**Dark? Yes (hence the title). But this is the "basis" of all of Blue's variants in S-EARLY.**

**Bottom line: Blue's life is in a state of balance where the slightest disruption would change her views on life. She currently has too little happiness to want to stay in her current life, yet she has too much to just throw it all away. As such, she's waiting for a change. SL's Blue is the one where the "bad change" occurred. The one that was mentioned. It's where Blue finally decides to throw it all away, which led to her rampancy. And SY's is the one where the "good change" occurred. The one where Blue finally found a reason to continue, where she finally found happiness. All the others are in the "waiting" stages. The façade with occasional lapses.**

**Here, all of Blue's "starting location" for all of the other stories can be seen. The most recent DE update (DE #007) being right before the point where she stops trying to be with Green. Most of SE and DE being some time before she stops trying. SA and SR's ones being before she tries to be with Green and no one else and while her cheerful façade is up and running. And SL's one just slightly before she stops trying with everyone else. SY's one is special, and it occurs way after the "status quo", assuming the "good ending" occurred.**

**Still think my interpretation of Blue's personality is bull crap? Check the Tumblr blog post for a detailed analysis.**

**Now, because this is a random compilation of backstories, it has no reason to be continuously updated. Once the backstory pool runs dry, it will be abandoned until another backstory pops up. So keep that in mind. The pool is currently populated, so no worries yet.**

**Is this story not what you were expecting? "Not another random compilation, 135! And especially not something that won't be updated! I want something like SA!" So, were you expecting some Dex Holder vs. evil story? Well, then. Good news, everyone! Coming VERY soon! … 1 to 3 days. It doesn't start with "Special" so my statement on the very top of this document still holds.**


	2. Confrontation

**I WAS supposed to update a Sabrina chapter, but this one finished first. So… here you go.**

**Once again, this chapter is all about Blue, as advertised in Destiny. And basically her actions after the HGSS arc regarding the return of Pryce.**

* * *

Confrontation:

Blue simply stared at the sign of the Gym. Mahogany Town Gym. … She knew this day would come someday… and _he_ probably did as well.

The moment she entered the Gym, an assistant walked up to her to greet and inform her about the Gym's gimmicks. But an ice cold glare from her sent him scurrying for his life.

The Gym's interior was pretty cold. But it didn't match Blue's iciness inside. She simply walked forward, walking across the polished ice floor without slipping an inch. She was used to walking on ice.

The handful of trainers there tried to stop her and battle her, but she shoved them out of the way. One tried extra hard to stop her, and she ended up slamming his face into the ice. Eventually, Blue managed to reach her destination. Pryce's room.

When she opened the door, she spotted the old man in the corner of the room, carefully crafting an ice sculpture. He looked up at her and a mix of emotions flashed across his wrinkled face.

"… I had a feeling you would come," he said after a short sigh. "I was waiting for this."

Blue simply kept her icy glare. This man was responsible for the state of her life. Everything… But at the same time, she owed him everything as well. Her knowledge, talent, and skills all came from him. … She really didn't know what to do or say.

"… Did Silver tell you?" Pryce asked as he got his wheelchair to approach her.

"Do you think I wouldn't know about you if he didn't tell me?" Blue retorted.

The old man smiled. "Of course not. You're resourceful. As you always were." He calmly held her gaze. "Are you here for revenge?"

"What do you think?" Blue retorted again.

Pryce examined her expression for a short while. "It doesn't seem like it. You look like you want something from me. An answer, perhaps, to a question you've been asking yourself."

Blue steadily dropped her glare. She couldn't help it, as she felt as if tears were about to well in her eyes. The fact that Pryce knew her best… … This man knew her better than her parents…

"… You know best…"

Pryce slowly nodded. "Of course." He slowly moved towards a shelf in the other side of the room. "So… what are you here for?"

"… You came back from the temporal void," Blue started. "… You must've seen many alternate futures. Silver told me that you saw an alternate future where the world got destroyed and you came back to stop it."

Pryce stopped moving things on the shelf and let out a long sigh. "I see… you came for _that_…"

"I have to know," Blue said after a sigh of her own. "What was my life like, if you had never kidnapped me?"

Pryce slowly turned to face her once again. "… That doesn't sound like a question you'd ask. You never looked back on the lost possibilities of the past. Why ask now?"

Pryce's Swinub created a chair made of ice and Blue sat down on it. It didn't feel cold, oddly. So the skills of the old Mask of Ice remained.

"… I need to know," she said. "I need to know how much you screwed me by kidnapping me. Or whether you saved me instead."

Pryce simply examined her expression. "What's bothering you?"

Blue's vision blurred a little. "… Just tell me, damn it."

Pryce sighed and tapped his Swinub. "Show her."

The Swinub proceeded to create and animate a large ice sculpture in front of Blue. Just like in the old days under the Mask of Ice, it instantly thawed and refroze water particles to make it look like the sculptures were moving. And right now, the sculptures were… models of Blue. The Swinub was showing Blue an animated version of what her life would've been like, if she was never kidnapped. The other sculptures were showing different things to show setting. Like a sign that read "Pallet Town".

The ice-Blue lived in Pallet Town. She did not have a Pokédex, and as such, never met Red or Green. She had her Jigglypuff, and simply lived her life as a normal girl. With happy and friendly parents. She lived day to day without purpose, but with plenty of reasons to be happy. She even had a boyfriend. A nice guy who lived next door. He showed her plenty of care and love, sometimes excessively. In short, she always had a smile on her lips and had no reason to get upset over anything.

Blue watched her would-be life. … It was infinitely greater than her current life… She let out a sigh and buried her face into her hands.

"… I'm sorry," Pryce said quietly.

"I would've had… everything… I ever wanted," Blue muttered. "… Everything…" She soon forced herself to calm down. "… Pointless… I shouldn't have asked… I was afraid it would be this way…" She looked over at Pryce and thought about what to say for a second. "… What about Silver? The only way you can justify my kidnapping would be Silver."

"He grows up to be the head of Team Rocket," Pryce said. "Evil. And like his father."

Blue nodded. "… If you kidnapped him but not me?"

"He would not have survived," Pryce said quietly.

"If I never escaped with him?"

"You both snap," said the old man. "He becomes like Will. You, like Karen."

"… I see…"

"Kidnapping you and Silver was the best for him," Pryce said. "You know that. You always sacrificed yourself in some way for his benefit. This is no exception. But it doesn't justify in kidnapping you. And I'm sorry."

"Apologies won't fix my life," Blue snapped. "So save it. As long as Silver's life is much better now than what could have been, I'll accept it. Besides, pondering over those past possibilities is pointless. You taught me that." She let out another long sigh. "… So… my life's purpose has been fulfilled, is that right? I was kidnapped to ensure Silver survived in his kidnapping, and that he won't turn evil. I escaped with him to make sure that he didn't snap and had a chance at a normal life. Now, he's happy and in the bright life. So I'm done. Useless. Is that right? I completed my purpose? All that's left for me is a pointless death?"

"That doesn't sound like you," Pryce said again. "You're usually willing to fight challenges and problems and overcome them. Not give up."

Blue looked into his eyes, suddenly feeling as if she was as old as he was. "… I'm tired of fighting. Tired of struggling. Tired of living only to taste disappointment… I just want to end it all. … What would happen if I die? Would it affect Silver badly?"

"Think of the reasoning behind your actions. You did everything for his sake. How would he react if you died? And how would he react if he found out why you died?"

"… So I have to keep on living in this pointless life… for his sake? That's my destiny?"

Pryce went towards the shelf once again. "Of course not. You can be happy. It all depends on what you do. You would know better than me. After all, you would've considered every possibility. But why are you asking me all of this? Why not discuss with your friends? I'd imagine that you'd have trouble making friends after what I did, but you have them now. Not to mention, you reunited with your parents."

"Stop rubbing it in, old man," Blue snapped again. "My so-called friends and family are worth nothing to me. And I'm worth even less to them. The only reason I'm here is because you were more of a father to me than my real dad. And you were more of a friend to me than my so-called friends apart from Red. You were harsh. Cold. Brutal. And very cruel. But at the same time, you taught me. You trained me, and made me prepare for the world. And you gave me a purpose in life. … I need you to do that again. I need a purpose other than keeping Silver in the bright life. You've seen all sorts of future possibilities. Including my life. I need you to tell me what I can do so I can finally be happy."

Pryce took out something from the shelf. "Sometimes, the correct answer is not the most obvious one." He approached Blue once more and gave her the object he held. "Sometimes, thinking cold and rational can show you the way. Remember how you used to be."

Blue stared at the object in her hand. … It was her mask. From the days under the Mask of Ice.

"Detach yourself emotionally," Pryce said as he returned to working on the ice sculpture. "Don't waste time thinking about all sorts of possibilities. They are merely pointless worries. You know this already. But remember. Don't abandon your friends. That's all I can tell you."

Blue stared at the mask for a long while, suddenly remembering those nightmarish days in perfect clarity. But at the same time, she remembered how… calm she was. She put the mask on over her face. The old familiar feeling was returning. She rose to her feet and felt around her mask once more.

"… Thank you," she said to Pryce. "… If I need you again…"

"You know where I'll be."

…

Blue visited Pryce once more. It was odd, sad, and ironic that she visited him more often than anyone else recently. And he was the nicest to her as well.

"How do you do it?" Blue asked abruptly as she sat down on the ice chair once more.

Pryce looked up from the sculpture he was making. "Hm? Do what?"

"Your thoughts," Blue elaborated. "You've done horrible things in the past. How do you escape those thoughts? How do you stop your memories from haunting you?"

Pryce looked back down at the sculpture. "This. I lose myself in creating something that requires a careful and delicate touch."

Blue took a glance around the room. There were many sculptures here and there. All Ice type Pokémon, majority of which were Lapras. For obvious reasons.

"Maybe you'd like to try," Pryce said. His Swinub created a large block of ice and set it in front of Blue. The old man then gave her his sculpting tools. "Just make whatever that comes to mind."

Blue took the tools and stared at the block of ice. What came to her mind first? … Green, of course. She focused on her memories of him and began to sculpt. She had never done this before, so she took things very slowly, carving a little bit at a time. Pryce simply watched her silently.

Hours passed by and neither said a word. Blue kept on sculpting until Green's face looked rather realistic on the block of ice.

"Very good," Pryce said at last. "Did it work?"

Blue blinked a few times and stared at Green's face on the ice block. She suddenly narrowed her eyes and purposely hammered the ice block, completely shattering it. She took a shuddering breath and set the tools on the table to her side.

"Yes… it worked for the duration. But… is there anything more portable? I can't come here every time I want to escape my thoughts."

"Perhaps you can draw on a sketchbook," Pryce suggested. "There are many hobbies out there that you can take up to escape your thoughts. Painting or drawing also requires a delicate touch. Think of those masterpieces that exist. Some took years to complete."

Blue slowly nodded. "Drawing… yes, I think I can do that. And I can take it with me wherever I go." She rose to her feet as she wanted to go home now. "Thank you again."

Pryce nodded. "If you need me again, you know where I'll be."

Blue nodded once more and silently left, knowing that one day, she'll be back again to seek comfort and advice from the man who started it all.

* * *

**A short chapter, but I don't think this chapter has to be that long.**

**I will try to get that Sabrina chapter up for the next SC update. It's kind of long. Let's hope it goes well!**


	3. Interview

**SC has been repurposed. Instead of showing off random backstories for characters no one gives a damn about (myself included), SC will now show off interactions between Dex Holders of multiple generations. Something that is not possible (or closely observable) in any other story anymore. Each SC chapter has no requirements other than showing off interactions. No love, humor, blood, or violence required.**

**So let's start the repurposed SC slowly with this chapter that would give an idea as to what kinds of chapters will come up in this story.**

* * *

Interview:

Pallet Town, Kanto…

Professor Oak stared at the questions written on the sheet of paper in front of him. No, it wasn't for him. Rather, he had come up with those questions to ask the Dex Holders. Ever since the reunion of every Dex Holder, the professor had wondered if there were any intergenerational cooperation or friendships beyond Kanto/Johto. To test the bond between all the Dex Holders, he came up with a handful of questions that he was going to ask every Dex Holder. He had called everyone for a mandatory gathering, so all that was left was to interview every Dex Holder, one by one.

Red was up first. Upon opening the door, he immediately stuffed his hands in his pockets and watched his every step. The last time he was in this particular section of the lab, he ended up accidentally releasing every Pokémon that were lined up for research. Though that incident _was_ over a decade ago, he still wasn't allowed in that room. But here he was now. Who knows what would happen if he caused another mishap. He might be banned from entering the lab entirely.

"Hi, professor," he said as he _carefully_ took a seat in front of the professor.

"Hello, Red," the professor said. "I called you over here so I could ask you a few questions."

"About what?"

"The other Dex Holders. All 19 Dex Holders are in this building, and you've all known each other for about a year now. So I'm sure you have some thoughts about your newfound juniors."

Red nodded. "Yeah. But I feel that it's harder to bond with some of them than the others."

"Of course. Hence I'm going to ask you a few questions. Now keep in mind that the answer has to be a Dex Holder from another region." The professor cleared his throat and read out the first question. "Which Dex Holder do you feel the most comfortable around?"

Red thought for a few seconds as he recalled spending time with everyone else. "I'd have to say… Platinum."

"Why?"

"She's just so polite and eager. She never does anything that could bother me in the slightest. There are others who show much more eagerness, but their over-eagerness can be a bit of a burden. Like Sapphire and Black. They're a bit too eager. Platinum's not like them."

The professor nodded and moved on to the next question. "Which Dex Holder do you want to get closer to? That said, I'm talking about a Dex Holder who you're not too familiar with."

"I'd say X. He's a junior tournament winner. I just feel that we could be much better friends than we are now. If that kid ever talks to anyone. Or maybe Faitsu. She seems to avoid me at every possible opportunity. So I think it's important to get her to change her views."

The professor nodded. "Now, last question. Is there a notable event that happened with a junior Dex Holder that comes to mind immediately?"

"There was a time when I had to pick _one_ person I could train with, and… Gold, Sapphire, Black, Platinum, and Y all wanted me to pick them, and they started to compete for the chance. It got quite hectic, and I'm afraid that it may happen again soon."

"But everyone knows that Platinum is your favorite junior."

"And that's why everyone ganged up on her."

The professor slowly nodded. "As champion, your juniors naturally look up to you to train them. And because of that, the competition is quite strong. It's up to you to manage your juniors and prevent the competition from heating up too much."

"It's much harder than it looks."

"Understandable. Okay Red, thanks for answering. Now it's Green's turn. So on your way out, bring him in here, please."

…

"Grandfather, do you have questions for me?" Green asked as he sat down in front of his grandfather.

"It's just a little survey, so to speak, about the Dex Holders from the other regions. You've known them for a little over a year now. So is there a Dex Holder you feel comfortable around?"

"Other than Crystal? Platinum. She's well mannered, polite, and is also a research assistant. Sapphire is also a research assistant, but she's more of a field research data gatherer and she's also quite loud."

"I see. Is there a particular Dex Holder who you'd like to get to know better?"

Green thought for a _very_ short while. "I don't think so."

"I thought as much. Any notable events that you remember?"

Green shook his head. Again, this response was expected, since Green usually spent all day working at the lab, and not spending time with the juniors.

A few seconds after Green left, Blue entered for her interview.

"Hello, professor," she said as she sat down on the chair. Her expression was cheerful, yet… tired. Or maybe even strained. The professor didn't know what to think of that.

"So Blue, what do you think of the junior Dex Holders?"

"They're good kids," Blue said without much thought.

"Is there one who you feel the most comfortable around?"

"Other than Silver? … Not really," Blue said with a sigh. "… Maybe Platinum, but only because she's always polite."

"Is there a reason why you don't feel comfortable around anyone?" the professor asked.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay then… Is there a Dex Holder who you'd like to get closer to?"

Blue smirked. "Green would be my answer… But for the juniors… I don't know. Maybe Platinum, because her past is the exact opposite of mine. Or maybe just anyone who wants to be closer to me." She let out a long sigh. "I'm so sorry, professor, but I don't want to answer any more questions… I'll go get Yellow over here."

…

"Hello, professor," Yellow said with a bright smile as she sat on the chair.

"Hello. I just wanted to ask you a few questions. Is there a Dex Holder from another region who you feel the most comfortable around?"

Yellow thought for a little bit before she smiled brightly once more. "I like everyone! They're all so nice in their own ways. Gold is funny, Silver is surprisingly nice and caring, Crystal is so nice of course. Ruby and Sapphire are so cute together, Emerald is cute too. Diamond and Pearl's comedy acts are funny, Platinum is so polite and kind. Black and White are cute together too. Rakutsu has interesting stories to tell, Faitsu is really nice too. X is like Red, and Y is so much like Sapphire, it's amazing!"

"Is there anyone you'd like to get to know better?"

"Definitely Faitsu," Yellow answered. "She's really nice and all, but I think she still has doubts about being a Dex Holder. I probably need to show her that our Pokémon are happy to be with us. If anyone can prove to her that our Pokémon are happy, it's me."

"Yes. Use your powers. I'm sure with your help, she'll be more willing to participate with the other Dex Holders. Now, is there a notable event you've had with the others that you remember?"

"It was really nice when we helped Blue quit smoking last year," Yellow answered. "We had so many Dex Holders helping out, it felt like we were one big family."

The professor slowly nodded. "I think we need that family concept brought back in to Blue. Go talk to her please. And bring Gold in here."

…

"Hey professor," Gold said as he sat down. "I hear we got a survey going."

"Yes, we do. So, is there a junior Dex Holder you feel the most comfortable around?" the professor asked. "So far, Platinum seems to be the number one choice."

"Nah. She's cute and nice and all, but no. Wildchild Girl is my choice, actually. For Super Formal Gal, I have to be super careful around her. If I say something wrong, I might upset her and she'll never let it go. And if I offend her in any way, she might even cry. For Wildchild Girl, no problem. I yell at her, she yells at me, we fight, we compete, and at the end of the day, there's no harm done. Emotionally, at least. And we actually do a lot of training by battling each other. It's not something I can do comfortably around Super Formal Gal. And for Odd Boy… there's always the risk of Super Serious Gal coming in to ruin our fun. Not exactly comfortable. Again, for Wildchild Girl, there are absolutely no worries."

"Understandable. So, is there a Dex Holder you'd like to get closer to?"

"I think Dream Boy," Gold said. "If he's… _taught_ right, he can become useful. Odd Boy certainly thinks so. Dream Boy has potential."

"Any notable events?"

Gold started to laugh. "Oh, yes. There are a few _notable_ incidents. Like when Odd Boy and I pulled off an _amazing_ trick on Bossy Gal…"

"Not those kinds."

"Oh. In that case… none comes to mind."

"Okay. Go get Silver now."

…

Silver silently sat on the chair, and simply waited for Professor Oak to say something. The professor waited to see if the Dex Holder had anything to say, so for a little while, there was nothing but silence. The professor eventually asked first.

"So Silver, other than Blue, which Dex Holder do you feel the most comfortable around? And why?"

Silver blinked. "Diamond," he answered. "We watch the same television show."

"… Okay. Then… which Dex Holder would you like to get closer to?"

"None comes to mind."

"Any notable events?"

"No."

"… Right. Get Crystal here, please."

…

"Hello, professor," Crystal said with a bright smile. "So it's my turn now?"

Professor Oak smiled back. "Yes it is."

"I assume Silver didn't have much to say," the girl said. "He's still not too talkative."

"You can't really change a person's personality too easily. Now then, of the Dex Holders from other regions, who makes you feel the most comfortable when you're around them?"

"Oh, definitely Platinum," Crystal said. "She's so smart and enthusiastic in learning. And she's so polite and kind too."

"That seems to be what most people are saying," the professor said. "Okay, is there a Dex Holder who you'd like to get to know better?"

"Hmm… I'd say White. She's so young, yet she practically owns _two_ companies. That's a lot of pressure on her, and I admire how she's able to manage all that."

"Do you have any notable events with the other Dex Holders that come to mind?"

Crystal let out a short sigh. "Sadly, no. I usually spend so much time working and volunteering, I rarely have time to be with the junior Dex Holders all that much."

"I told you that you should take vacations a lot more. Don't work yourself too hard."

"Yes. I think I will start taking breaks from time to time. No guarantees, though. I'll go get Ruby now."

…

"Hello," Ruby said as he took his seat. "I'm ready for my survey. Everyone else is getting ready for their turn too."

"Good. Alright, Ruby. Out of the Dex Holders from the other regions, which one makes you feel the most comfortable?"

"White," Ruby answered. "Obviously. She's like my disciple! She wants to learn the art of beauty! And that Pokémon Musical she created? It's basically a Pokémon Contest. It makes sense that we'd connect easily."

"Right."

"Please don't tell Sapphire about that," Ruby said. "There's a chance that she might get a little jealous."

"Don't worry," the professor assured him. "This is confidential. So, is there a Dex Holder who you'd like to get closer to?"

"Another easy choice," Ruby said. "Platinum, of course. She's the only other Dex Holder with any Contest experience. There is potential in that one. If she spends more time with me and White, we can make her into a super Contest star!"

"You sure are devoted to Contests," the professor said. "Is there a notable event you've experienced with the others?"

"There's one. White and I were going on a Contest practice trip to one of the islands in southern Hoenn. But Sapphire and Black tagged along, so the four of us had to spend a week together in that island. It was fun, but we didn't practice as much as we had hoped thanks to those two battle maniacs."

The professor chuckled. "As long as you're spending time with the others, I think that's great. Especially if you're spending time with your juniors."

"I suppose so. Okay, I'll go get Sapphire now." Ruby stood up and headed towards the door but stopped just before opening it. "Could you… tell me what Sapphire says for her turn?"

The professor shook his head. "Sorry. But this is confidential."

"Rats."

…

Sapphire sat on the chair and briefly took a look around. Things were quite different when compared to her dad's lab. For starters, there were much more equipment and books strewn around.

"Sapphire, what do you think of the Dex Holders from the other regions?" the professor asked.

"They're all really great!" the girl said with a smile. "… Maybe except for a few."

"Who would you say makes you feel the most comfortable? Red?"

Sapphire put a hand on her chin as she thought. "Hmm… I wouldn't say Red. I mean, he's amazing and all, but… everyone else seems to think that too. Whenever we have our team hangout, Gold and I compete so hard for everything. Black's trying to join in too, and Platinum and Y are vying for his attention too. So… it's not exactly comfortable. So I would say… Black. If Red's not around and it's just me and Black, he's quite fun to be around. He wants to climb the ladder, basically. He wants to beat Red one day, and to do that, he needs to beat Platinum, me, and Gold. So we train together, and he's so enthusiastic. It's really fun." Sapphire suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Who did Ruby pick for this question?"

"Sorry Sapphire, but this is confidential," the professor said. "Next question. Who would you like to get closer to?"

"I think Y," Sapphire said. "She's like me! She's another girl who's not… girly! … Or at least not as much as the others. And she's a Sky Trainer? That's so cool." Once again, she narrowed her eyes a little. "Can you tell me who Ruby picked this time?"

"Once again, this is confidential," the professor said. "If you really must know, then you should ask Ruby. Okay. Final question. Is there any interesting or notable event that happened with your juniors?"

"There was a time when Ruby and I were supposed to go on a trip to an island in southern Hoenn," Sapphire started. "But then Black and White tagged along, and… well… there goes our date."

"Really?" the professor asked. "Ruby said that it was supposed to be him and White, and you and Black tagged along."

"What?!" Sapphire yelled as she jumped to her feet. "That idiot!"

'… _Oops…_' The professor rubbed the back of his neck, having realized that he accidentally revealed a piece of _confidential_ information.

"Why that little…" Sapphire growled out. She soon stormed out of the room, leaving the professor by himself for a little while.

…

Emerald quietly entered the room and sat on the chair. "I don't know what you said, but that wild girl is quite angry."

The professor nodded. "Yes. My mistake. But I'm sure she won't kill Ruby." He cleared his throat and focused on Emerald. "Now, it's your turn at this survey. Which Dex Holder makes you feel the most comfortable to be around? Other than Crystal."

Emerald grinned. "Gold, of course. When I'm with Gold and we pull off a prank or a trick on someone, Crystal blames _him_. Mostly." He suddenly looked a little serious. "… Don't tell Crystal."

"Don't worry. This is all confidential," the professor assured him.

Emerald didn't look convinced. "Well… I'm sure you said the same for Ruby and Sapphire."

"This time, it will be different." Emerald still didn't look convinced, so the professor moved on. "So… is there a Dex Holder who you'd like to get closer to?" Emerald shook his head. "Okay… any notable events? That does not involve you and Gold pulling a prank on anyone?"

"If you remove pranks, there really aren't a lot of options," Emerald said. "I mean, it's not like I hang around a lot with anyone outside of Gold, Crystal, Ruby, and Sapphire. Now then, I'll just go and hope that Sapphire's done mauling Ruby."

…

Diamond was up next. The Sinnoh Dex Holder munched on some cookies as he sat down on the chair. He swallowed everything before greeting the professor. "Hello."

"Hello," the professor said, noting the cookie crumbs falling onto the floor. "You've been with the senior and junior Dex Holders for a while now, so tell me. Which Dex Holder makes you feel the most comfortable?"

"Uh… I don't know. I never really put that much thought into it. I don't really feel uncomfortable around anyone."

"Then is there a Dex Holder who you want to get closer to?"

"Silver, I think," Diamond said as he ate another cookie. "He's the only other Dex Holder who likes the same shows as I do!"

"And is there a notable event with the others that you remember?"

"Not really. I mostly just spend time with the Lady or Pearl, so there aren't many chances."

"And I'm sure you'll work on changing that."

…

"Alright professor, it's my turn now," Pearl said as he quickly sat on the chair. "Let's do this."

The professor nodded. He was getting tired too, so speed was fine with him. "Which Dex Holder makes you feel the most comfortable?"

"I'm indifferent to everyone," Pearl answered immediately.

"Anyone who you'd like to get closer to?"

"Nope."

"Any notable events?"

"Nope." Pearl stood up. "Well, now it's Miss Lady's turn! I'm going to do some comedy routine practices with Dia!"

…

"Hello, professor," Platinum said politely with a bow as she entered the room. She closed the door behind her and waited for the professor to tell her to sit.

The professor quickly realized why she was still standing. "Hello. Please have a seat."

"Thank you." The heiress sat down on the chair and straightened out her skirt. She calmly waited for the professor to continue.

"I would just like to ask you a couple of questions regarding the other Dex Holders."

"I shall try my best to answer."

"Which Dex Holder do you feel the most comfortable with?" the professor asked. "And this has to be from another region."

Platinum thought for a short while. "I would have to say that it is White. She is very kind and respectful, and her stories and experiences are quite interesting. She shows much respect for me, and it is a pleasure to be around her."

"I thought you'd pick Red," the professor said. "I thought you two were very close."

Platinum nodded. "Yes. Senior Red does take care of me the most. I feel really close to him, like a sibling. But at the same time, he is so much greater than me. I must show him absolute respect, and I feel nervous around him. I do not wish to make any mistakes around him and I fear that I may do something by accident to upset him. And because of that, I do not feel nearly as comfortable around him, as I do with White. I feel the same with the other seniors as well. I do not wish to disappoint them, and sometimes, it can be straining."

"Interesting… Okay. If there was a Dex Holder who you'd like to get closer to, who would it be?"

"Senior Sapphire would be my answer," Platinum said. "We… started off on the wrong foot, and for a while, there were mutual dislikes between us. Though senior Red helped ease the animosity, we still do not get along that well. And it was my fault that this animosity started. I would definitely prefer to get closer to her."

"Hmm… understandable. I'm sure she'd feel the same way if you talk to her. Now, last question. Are there any notable events that you remember?"

"There are several," Platinum answered. "White and Y are often over in Sinnoh, and together, we traveled to many places. And at other times, senior Red calls for a meeting and with the others in our team, we travel to various places as well. There are too many events to pick one right now."

"That's good," the professor said. "You're getting along with most of the other Dex Holders really well. I hope you do the same for your juniors. Now go get Black, please."

"Yes, professor." She then rose to her feet and gave the professor a polite bow before leaving the room.

…

Black soon came in and took a seat. After a brief greeting, the professor asked the first question.

"What Dex Holder do you feel the most comfortable around?"

"I think Sapphire," the boy answered. "We train together frequently, and I think we've bonded quite a lot too. With her, I can bring everything I have into the battle and not worry about anything. And it's not like I have to be careful too. She doesn't get offended."

"Yes. I suppose it may be difficult for you to bond with Platinum. So, is there a Dex Holder who you'd like to get closer to?"

"For now, I think Gold," Black answered. "Once I train with Sapphire enough, I can train with Gold too. And one day, I'll be able to face Red."

"Why did you skip Platinum?" the professor asked. "She's stronger than you. Shouldn't you aim to train with her first?"

"She's not that interested in training," Black answered. "Especially with me, since she receives training from Red every time they're together. And in other times, she trains with Miss President and Y."

"I see. Is there a notable event that you remember with the other Dex Holders?"

"Just a lot of training with Sapphire."

"Hmm… I think you should start training with your juniors as well," the professor said. "Helping them becoming stronger is a responsibility as a senior. And together, you can become even stronger. Now go get White here, please."

…

"Hello, professor," White said with a bright smile as she sat down on the chair. "I'm ready for the questions!"

"Very good," the professor said with a smile. "Now, who makes you feel most comfortable to be around?"

"Definitely Ruby," White said. "He shows so much care and attention for me. Lady Platinum does too, but I'm a little more at ease with Ruby."

"Who do you want to get closer to?"

"I thought about it a lot, and I have to say… Blue," White answered. "I mean, I heard about everything she went through, and I can see it in her eyes too. She's been through so much for so long, and still, she keeps her smile on most of the time. I have so much respect for her. Lately, she looks like she's struggling to keep her smile, but she's still trying. I'm not sure if I can help, but I want to help her out."

The professor nodded with a rather grim expression. "Yes… that's very important. Right now, I think every Dex Holder needs to talk to her and remind her that you are all a family. Last question. Are there any notable events that you remember with the other Dex Holders?"

White nodded. "Yes. Lady Platinum and I once went to Kalos to visit Y. We had a very nice tour of Kalos, and we spent so much time together. It was so much fun, and it was how we actually started hanging out together. That one trip started it all and it was amazing."

"It's very nice to hear that you are getting along so well with your senior and your junior. I hope that one day, you'll get along that well with the other Dex Holders. Now, I think it's time for the other Unova Dex Holders. Notify them, please."

"Sure thing, professor."

…

Rakutsu stepped inside first. His eyes did a quick scan of the area before sitting down.

"So, how do you like your seniors?" Professor Oak asked.

"They're all quite interesting," Rakutsu answered. "Some have interesting backgrounds, some have interesting personalities, and some have interesting occupations."

"Which one makes you feel the most comfortable?"

"No one in particular."

"Is there someone who you want to get to know better?"

"Not exactly. For now, I'm fine with how things are."

"Any notable events?" the professor asked, even though he didn't expect an answer.

"One comes to mind," Rakutsu answered. "I once asked Blue about her past experiences. She didn't like it, but I may be able to get her a job within the International Police."

"I'm sure she'll like the idea," the professor said. "Right now, the important thing is for the other Dex Holders to just talk to her. Speaking of which, I hear your friend needs to talk to the others some more. Bring her in here, please."

…

Faitsu slowly entered the room and took her time in shutting the door. She didn't look too happy, though she didn't look upset. It was likely that she was still a little bit stuck between her loyalties.

"Hello," the professor said warmly. "Please have a seat."

Faitsu sat down on the chair and kept her eyes on the table. "… Hello."

"I understand that you still have some difficulty in talking with the Dex Holders," said the professor. "Now, I'm sure many people have tried to talk to you. Do anyone make you feel comfortable?"

"I think White," the girl answered. "She's not opposed to Team Plasma, and is willing to discuss with me on the differences between Team Plasma's ideals and everyone else's."

"Is there anyone who you'd like to know better?"

"Yellow," Faitsu answered. "… She can understand Pokémon. Like… _him_. Maybe… she can help me. What do Pokémon really want? Am I doing the right thing for them? … She's the only one who can answer these questions."

"Are there any notable events that happened with the others that you remember?"

"White once took me to the Ferris wheel," Faitsu said slowly. "And… told me what _he_ did. I'm… not sure what to make of it."

"Talk to the other Dex Holders," the professor said. "Start with White, Yellow, or Crystal. Then try talking with Platinum, Diamond, and Red. Just listen to what they tell you, and heed their advice. I'm sure you'll know what to do."

Faitsu nodded and slowly left the room. Professor Oak let out a short sigh of relief before moving towards the final two Dex Holders.

…

X slowly sat down on the chair and looked at the professor. "Hello."

"How are you liking the other Dex Holders so far?"

"I'm surprised to know how popular some of them are, and yet don't have pesky paparazzi following."

"I'm not sure why you experienced what you did," the professor said. "The Dex Holders are so popular, yet there are never any paparazzi tailing them everywhere. Maybe you should stay in Kanto for a while. No paparazzi will follow you. In fact, none of them will know you."

X slowly nodded. "I'll consider that."

"So then. Is there a senior Dex Holder who makes you feel comfortable?"

"Not really," X answered. "I haven't spent too much time with them."

"Then is there someone who you'd like to get closer to?"

"Not really. Not yet, at least. I'll know more once I start talking to the others."

"Any notable events?"

"Nothing good. White once tried to take me to Pokéstar Studios, and… it did not end well." X rose to his feet. "I'm sure Y would have much more interesting stuff to say. I'll go get her."

…

"Hello professor," Y said as she sat down on the chair. "It's finally my turn, huh?"

"Yes it is," Professor Oak said. "19 Dex Holders. It sure takes a lot of time asking everyone questions. So Y, how are you liking the other Dex Holders?"

"They're all so great," the girl said with a smile. "I'm having a lot of fun being with them."

"Splendid. So, who makes you feel the most comfortable?"

"I have to say it's Miss Platinum," Y said. "I know I have to watch my behavior and whatnot, but being with her is so pleasant."

"Who do you want to get closer to?"

"Oh, definitely Sapphire. She's so… like me. I think we can get along _really_ well."

"Is there a notable event with the others that you remember?"

"There's one, that was quite an interesting ordeal," Y started. "White wanted a possible movie inspiration, and I wanted to see what it was like in the house of a _super_ rich family. So… we pretended to be maids at the Berlitz Mansion without Miss Platinum knowing. It was a very interesting experience. At least until Miss Platinum found us. We then went ice skating and… we don't know how to skate. Miss Platinum does, but we don't. But it was still fun."

"It sounds like Platinum really likes you two," the professor said. "That's very good. It means that you've really bonded with two of your seniors. I hope you continue and bond with more and more of your seniors. Intergenerational friendship is always important." The professor took a glance at all the notes he had written so far and let out a sigh of relief. "And that is everyone. Thank you for your responses."

"No problem, professor," Y said as she rose to her feet. "Now I'm going to see if Miss Platinum wants to do something fun with us today."

Once Y left, Professor Oak stood up and stretched. Interviewing all 19 Dex Holders was certainly tiring. But at least he didn't have to do it anymore. Now that he had notes on everyone's responses, he just had to release the information to the most responsible Dex Holder, who will then work on strengthening the intergenerational friendships. And that Dex Holder was Crystal. She would know what to do with this information. And from then on, it would be up to the individual Dex Holders to build up and strengthen friendship.

* * *

**19 Dex Holders, 3 questions each, and even without a lot of actual stuff, it's still freaking long. I know this chapter is very repetitive. And it's supposed to be. This chapter wasn't exactly planned out, but it's the chapter with the most purpose out of the rest of SC. The purpose? Literally list out some of the Dex Holder interaction possibilities (full relationship list coming soon on Tumblr), and list out future SC chapters. "Notable events" indeed.**

**Next up: we will see. Of all the "notable events" mentioned above, which would you want to see next?**


	4. Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy:

Classified location, Unova, 12 pm…

White groaned as she stared at the graphs on her computer monitor. Things… were _not_ looking great.

For the past few years, her companies were doing horribly. And it wasn't because they weren't getting enough income. The expenses were just way too high. And they weren't exactly from operations expenses either.

Black got sealed in the Light Stone and flew off somewhere. And for 2 years since that incident, White had spent tremendous amount of time and effort looking for him. She sent hundreds of _scouts_ all across Unova to find any traces of the Light Stone. She even expanded into Pokéstar Studios a little prematurely for the sake of increased scouts and income. All of her money had gone straight into those scouts, and this lasted for 2 years, which had understandably consumed all of her income and then some.

Even after Black was found, the money White had to borrow to pay the scouts was haunting her. And despite her best efforts, her company's stocks had plummeted. In about a week or so, she would have to close her company, or get bought out.

White couldn't borrow any more money from the banks. The interest was one thing, but her credit scores were non-existent at the moment. The only solution was to borrow money from the other Dex Holders. But that was way too risky. White didn't want Black to find out, as it would hurt him a lot. If he found out that she was on the verge of bankruptcy just because he went missing, he would just feel terrible, and he'd probably be afraid to look at her. White definitely didn't want that to happen.

Asking Platinum for help made the most sense, since she probably had more money than all of the other Dex Holders combined and squared. But honestly, the heiress… scared her. White didn't know why, but talking to Platinum made her incredibly nervous. The heiress just looked so cold… She was really kind, yes, but White still felt too nervous. Maybe time would change that, as it hadn't been too long since they met.

White could ask Gold for some assistance, but she didn't think that he was the type to hold secrets all that effectively.

… Maybe Y? The Kalos Dex Holder was supposedly quite wealthy. And since White was her senior, she would probably agree.

White sighed and called Y. This was an emergency, after all. The shame of asking a junior for financial assistance could come AFTER she got saved.

"Hello?" came Y's voice from the Xtransceiver a short while later.

"Hi, Y," White said after clearing her throat. "How's it going?"

"Oh, hi, White!" Y said cheerfully. "Everything's fine here. How's it on your end?"

White rubbed the back of her neck. "Um… terrible. I need help…"

"What's wrong?" Y asked.

"I'm kind of… broke," White started. "… Really badly broke, I mean. … Can you lend me some money?"

"Oh. Okay. I might be able to help," Y said. "But I don't know if I'll be of _that_ much help. How much do you need?"

White checked her laptop. "I think… 75 million PKD would help me pay most of my debts, and I can pay off the rest."

Y suddenly began to choke. "Whoa, whoa! How many million?! I don't have _that_ kind of money!"

"You don't?"

"No! Of course not! I'm not made of money! Why don't you ask Miss Platinum to help you? She probably has like a billion in her bag alone. She won't go bankrupt just by trying to help you."

"I know, but… … Lady Platinum is kind of… scary. You know?"

"What? Come on! Miss Platinum's really nice! She's not… scary! Just give her a call and ask for her help."

White let out a sigh. "… Look, Lady Platinum just scares me, alright? She's just so… cold looking. I know she's really nice, but she just… scares me. Why don't you call her then? Ask if she can help me."

Y's voice suddenly started to shake just a little. "Um… I'll pass. Ask her yourself."

"I thought she wasn't scary to you."

"She's not, but… I just can't ask her this kind of thing!"

"… Just admit it."

"… Fine. Miss Platinum scares me a bit too. Are you happy?" Y said at last. "… I think we need to spend much more time with her… Maybe you can invite her to your place and just chat."

White suddenly shuddered at the thought of Platinum knocking on her door. It was a scary thought, only because of the high likelihood that her simple home and total lack of fancy stuff would severely disappoint her senior.

"I think a gradual transition is necessary," she muttered. "You know, she's _super_ rich. She needs to visit a not-as-rich person first, before she visits a financially-broke person such as myself."

"Wait… are you suggesting…" Y muttered in horror.

"Yeah! I think Lady Platinum should visit you first! So invite her to your place!"

"But… my place is…"

"Besides, isn't Kalos fancier than Unova overall?"

Y let out a long groan. "Ohh… that… sucks…"

White was about to get back to the topic of financial assistance when someone knocked on her door. She walked towards the door and peeked through the peephole. To her surprise and horror, she saw Platinum standing on the other side with a stranger carrying a briefcase behind her.

"Oh no!" White muttered as she backed away.

"What? What's going on?" Y asked.

"She's here! Lady Platinum is _here_!"

"Oh. Well then… good luck!" Y said cheerfully. "And you're on your own!"

The call soon ended and White shut off her Xtransceiver. She rapidly straightened out her clothes and checked over herself to make sure she looked perfect. An odd thing to do right now, but she didn't want to 'disappoint' her senior. She took several deep rapid breaths to calm herself down and opened the door.

"Oh! Lady Platinum!" she said with a feigned surprise. "It's so great to see you again!"

"Hello, White," Platinum said in her _scary_ calm tone. But she did have a bright smile on her face.

"What brings you all the way here? And without calling me first?"

"There is something important I wish to discuss with you, in person," Platinum said in her scary calm tone yet again. "May I come in?"

White nervously gulped and nodded. She stepped aside from the doorway and her senior entered along with the stranger. The stranger didn't look like a bodyguard, as he wasn't… big. He looked more like a lawyer, actually. Or an accountant.

"Um… who is he?" White asked as she shut the door.

"He is a lawyer," Platinum replied.

"Wh – Why do you need a lawyer here?" White asked as she led her senior towards the dinner table, where her laptop was currently placed.

"You will see."

White took a seat and noticed that she was actually trembling. This was absolutely nerve wrecking. Just talking to her senior in a friendly situation was a little scary. But… a sudden visit, where something _important_ would be discussed, that required a _lawyer_? If Platinum wasn't looking at her right now, White had a high probability of just breaking down.

Platinum took a seat on the opposite side of the table from her junior, and the lawyer sat next to the heiress. White shut off her laptop and put it aside. Again, she took a nervous gulp and clasped her hands together, if only to prevent them from shaking too much.

Platinum's lawyer took out a document from the briefcase and slid it across the table to White. The Unova girl took the document and quickly read it. She gasped and froze upon realizing the contents.

"You're… you're trying to…" she stammered, unable to finish her sentence.

"I heard that your BW Agency is on the verge of bankruptcy," Platinum said. "I wish to assist you."

"… You're buying my company?" White asked, her voice shaking quite badly. "My… my agency? You're… buying me out?"

"It is my understanding that it is a matter of time before someone else purchases your company," Platinum said. "I believe it would be better for you if I purchase it first." She took out a cheque from her bag and handed it to her junior. "I believe the price would be very agreeable with you."

White took the cheque and gasped again at the sheer number of digits. It was at least 10 times more than what her company was worth. She could understand her senior's intention. And accepting her offer was infinitely better than being bought out by someone else. Right now, Platinum was offering much more money than was necessary. No one else would do such a thing. Platinum was only offering this much money because she was White's senior, as a fellow Dex Holder. And if the heiress bought the BW Agency, she would still get White to run the company and do everything. Again, no one else would be doing such.

"Are you going to refuse my generous offer?" Platinum asked, her tone seemingly ice cold, despite having a kind expression on her face. "If I purchase your company, I promise you that 90% of the company's income will go to you. You will still be operating everything within the company, and you will still have complete control. I understand that if someone else purchases your company, you will have no control over what happens."

White slowly nodded in agreement. But she soon shook her head. "… Lady Platinum… I'm really sorry, but I can't accept your offer."

"Oh? Why not?" Platinum asked. "Would you prefer bankruptcy?"

"No… not at all, but…" White took a shuddering breath. "The BW Agency… … it's my dream. I started it many years ago so I could work towards it. Using Pokémon potential and abilities to create dazzling performances instead of pure battling, utilizing various Pokémon types and styles for the purpose of entertainment… it's my dream. Over the years, I spent countless hours and tremendous amount of effort to make it a reality. The BW Agency… is my life. I… can't sell it to anyone. I _won't_. If the company struggles, I will do everything in my power to get it back on track. If it ends, my life basically ends with it. No matter what happens, I won't sell it. I'm sorry."

Platinum didn't say anything and instead, stared into her junior's eyes. White gulped again and desperately hoped that her senior wouldn't press the issue. If the heiress tried to purchase the BW Agency again, and White refused once more, the relationship with her senior would become _horrid_. It would be abysmal. But White was never going to sell her company, ever. Although Platinum said that she'd let her run the company, there was a monumental difference between "White's BW Agency" and "Berlitz family's BW Agency".

Platinum suddenly smiled. "I understand. Your decision is admirable. You wish to hold onto your dreams despite the situation." She took back the cheque and tore it in half. But she immediately took out another cheque and a pen. "But you still have a problem. Your company will be filing for bankruptcy pretty soon, no?"

White slowly nodded.

Platinum gave her another smile. "I still wish to assist you." She soon wrote down another figure on the cheque and slid it towards White. "I believe you will find this more agreeable than the last one."

White glanced down at the cheque and saw the same _massive_ number as last time. She looked up at her senior, wondering what was more agreeable about it.

"I wish to invest into the BW Agency," Platinum said, maintaining her bright smile. "I believe in you. I know you can make your company even bigger. I wish to see it happen. I wish to see you live your dreams and achieve your goals. And in order to assist you in reaching your dreams, I shall invest in your company. You will still own your company, and I will not try to purchase it from you. And if I own the vast majority of your stock, your company cannot be purchased by anyone else. Is this acceptable?"

White's mouth opened in shock again. "Um… Lady Platinum… A – Are you sure?"

"Yes. As I said, I wish to see your dreams come to fruition. Will you accept?"

White quickly nodded. "Thank you so much! I promise I won't let you down! And in time, I can even pay you back for your help!"

Platinum giggled a little at White's sudden outburst of enthusiasm. "Once your company is back to its feet, I will sell your stocks back to you, but little bit at a time. That way, your company will still do great, and you will not owe me anything. And remember, White. If you ever require assistance, feel free to ask me. I will gladly help you."

White gave her senior a polite bow. "Thank you so much!"

Platinum took the buy-out documents and returned it to her lawyer. "Now, the lawyer is here to ensure that this investment will go off without any complications. Once we sign all the documents he says we must sign, we will leave."

White decided to take a chance. Her senior _was_ scary, but there was no reason to be scared, as she was really, really nice. So it was perhaps time to overcome her unnecessary fear of the heiress. "You came all the way here to Unova, Lady Platinum. Why don't you stay for a while? I can give you a tour of Unova."

"I thought you would be busy," Platinum said. "If you are busy with your company, I will not disturb you. But if you are free, I will accept your offer."

"With your investments, I only need to make a handful of calls. After that, I'll be free for almost a whole week! So if you'd wait for me, I'll gladly give you a tour."

"Very well then. After we sign all the required documents, I shall wait for you outside."

White started up her laptop so that she could print off the necessary documents. She let out a long sigh of relief. Her company was saved, she would not go bankrupt, and she felt that her relationship with her senior was looking great. Now to spread to joy to her junior…

"Lady Platinum, after the tour of Unova, why don't we visit Y in Kalos?"

"I would like to visit Kalos as well," Platinum said with a nod. "It will certainly be interesting. If you are able, then yes. I would like to visit Y with you. I hear Lumiose City is a very popular location for tourists."

"Yeah. I'd like to tour there too," White said. "So that's that, then! Next week, let's give Y a surprise visit!"

"I heard that Y is a little afraid of me," Platinum started. "I do not know why, but I wish to show her that there is no reason to be afraid."

White flinched a little, as she was more scared than her junior. "Oh, that's silly," she said rather awkwardly. "You're super nice! There's no reason to be afraid!"

Platinum looked a little bit hurt. "Yes, but… I am aware that some of my juniors are afraid of me. And I do not know why."

"Maybe it's just because you look cold? I know you're really kind, but from afar, you just look a little cold."

Platinum let out a sigh. "Yes… Diamond had said that as well. I am trying to change. I shall try to smile a lot more frequently. … Are you afraid of me?"

White gave her a bright smile. "… Not anymore!"

* * *

**Something to note: whenever the location says "classified location, Unova", it just means White's house. It's "classified" because we don't know where White lives… yet. Or at least I don't. Maybe I'm behind.**

**Next up: White and Y infiltrate Platinum's mansion while disguised as maids. Their objective? Just see what it's like behind the scenes of a super rich family, and see the daily routines of Platinum Berlitz without her knowing.**


	5. Infiltration

**New poll alert! … There's a new poll on my profile page. Also if you check my Tumblr, the Pairing Shift post is quite important.**

**Just as clarification, White and Y are (were) afraid of Platinum for the same reasons as to why the younger Dex Holders would be afraid of Green or Silver. Platinum just looks too cold if she's not smiling. And the juniors would definitely be intimidated by her status. This… super rich heiress of really high class? Yep. Definitely a little bit scary. Especially if Gold and Emerald spread a false rumor that if you're rude to Platinum, her honor guards will come after you.**

* * *

Infiltration:

Vaniville Town, Kalos…

"Whew," Y sighed out as she dropped the numerous shopping bags on the floor of her house. Behind her, White entered as well and she too, quickly set the multiple shopping bags on the floor.

"We finally made it," she said with a groan. "… Where are the boys when you need them?"

"I know, right? I mean, you didn't bring Black with you this time, and X is… well, he's somewhere."

"I bet Lady Platinum doesn't have to go through this kind of labor," White said as she plopped down onto the couch. "She'll probably have like an army of servants do the heavy lifting for her."

"Does Miss Platinum even go shopping?" Y asked as she sat next to her senior. "I don't think I ever saw her go shopping."

"Maybe someone does the shopping for her," White suggested. "But then again, she has her own preferences… Maybe her servants just know her preferences?"

"Hmm… there are a lot of things I'm curious about," Y said. "Like… what does Miss Platinum do on a normal day? I heard that she's a research assistant, but what does she do at home? What does she eat?"

An idea suddenly struck White. "… Maybe we can find out."

"Huh?"

"Without asking Lady Platinum, I mean. If we… go into her mansion as maids, we can see what the super rich heiress does on a daily basis. If we know that, whenever we ask her to join us in doing things, we'll know what she's used to."

"… And if we get caught?"

"Lady Platinum's really nice! She won't scold us too much. As long as we don't cause any damage."

Y still looked uncertain. "Um… okay. But how do we even go in there as maids without her knowing?"

White grinned. "I think I know someone who can help us…"

…

Few days later, Sandgem Town, Sinnoh…

…

White and Y followed the two Berlitz Mansion guards as they led them towards the front door of the colossal mansion. The door soon opened and a maid stood in the doorway.

"May I help you?"

"We're here as the new maids," White answered. "We were recommended by Julie."

"Oh, I see. Please follow me."

White and Y followed the maid inside the mansion and immediately realized that they were headed towards somewhere brand new. Normally, when they visited Platinum, they were sent to the guest room, and maybe the diner room. But this maid was leading them somewhere completely different.

A good sign. The first step was successful.

The maid took the two Dex Holders towards the dressing room so that they could change out of their casual clothes and into the appropriate clothes for the job.

"Here are your work clothes," she said as she set down two sets of clothes on a table. "And here are the keys to your lockers. And once you are fully dressed, head over to the library on the 8th floor."

"Okay, thank you."

The maid soon left the two Dex Holders to themselves. Y picked up her job-clothes.

"A maid dress, huh?" she said as she stared at the clothes. "It's so… elegant. But it looks like it'll be really hot to wear this thing all day."

"I'm sure they'll have air conditioning in here," White said as she took off her vest and neatly placed it in her provided locker.

Y took off her clothes and put them in the locker as well. She then proceeded to put on the maid dress when she noticed something.

"Um… I think we have our first puzzle."

White was about to take her shirt off but directed her attention to her junior. "Hm? What's wrong?"

Y frowned as she stared at the maid dress. "… How do we put this thing on? I don't see a zipper or a button anywhere…"

White checked the dress. "… Huh. It's not like a skirt, it's not like a shirt, and… hmm… We certainly don't want to stretch out the neck of this thing…"

"Let's just try to put it on," Y said as she crawled into the dress from below.

"I'll see if I can help," White said as she began to pull the dress down to help her junior. She grabbed the clothing and gave it a light yank downwards, intending to help Y find the neck of the dress and poke her head out.

"… Ow! That's my hair!" Y yelped out from the inside of the dress. White quickly grabbed the dress at a different location and pulled down. "Ow! Ow! My ear!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

After what seemed like an hour, Y finally managed to poke her head through the neck of the dress. "Ow, damn it!" she growled out as she quickly checked the condition of her hair. She soon glared at her senior, who took a step backwards. "Now it's your turn! Hurry up and take your clothes off so I can force you through this thing!"

White took a step backwards while trying to calm her junior. The Kalos Dex Holder kept her fiery glare, so White took a nervous gulp and eyed the dress she had to wear. … Oh, this was… going to suck.

…

30 minutes later…

…

White and Y slowly made their way upstairs, feeling tired already. Both were missing a few strands of hair from the whole dress problem, and they were exhausted from that alone. And now, they had to climb so many stairs to get to the 8th floor.

"Ugh… what a disaster," White said with a sigh.

"Yeah… let's just hope for the better now."

The two girls slowly staggered towards the library. Platinum would still be at Prof. Rowan's lab, thus there were no risks of the two girls being detected at the library. But just in case, the two girls have opted to change a bit of their appearance.

White had changed her hairstyle into a side tail, while only allowing a few strands loose. Y had tied her hair into a large bun and again, kept a few strands loose. The objective was to make themselves unrecognizable to Platinum. They even put on a pair of glasses (with simple glass lenses) to look completely different. Or so they hoped. If Platinum stared at their faces, then this disguise definitely would not work. But at a glance, they would be unrecognizable. They'd find that out later though.

As to be expected from the library of the Berlitz Mansion, the "room" was filled with seemingly millions of books.

There were a handful of maids and servants already in the library, doing a variety of work. Some were dusting books, some were rearranging them, and some were simply cleaning up the walls and floor.

"So… what are we doing here?" Y asked, being careful not to distract anyone.

One of the servants approached them. "Ah, you two must be the new girls."

"Yes," White said with a smile. "We're ready for our first job."

"Good." The servant pointed at a large table near the entrance of the library, where a HUGE pile of books was stacked on top. "Those books were used by the Lady this week for her research paper. She has finished her paper and presenting her work today, and thus does not require those books anymore. She requested that we return these books to their places within a week, but we should try to put them away in their correct places before she returns."

Y's mouth gaped open a bit as she counted at least 200 books. The books were placed in a 4 by 10 grid and were 5 books high. And there were a few books scattered on top as well. Yep. Definitely more than 200.

"So… when does Lady P… I mean, the Lady return?" White asked, her eyes fixated on the mountain of books.

"In about two hours," the servant replied. "The Lady would most likely come to this library for her tea and reading time almost immediately."

White and Y glanced at each other. … That was a lot of work to do in such a little time.

"Okay, let's do this efficiently," White said. "We'll first start to arrange the books in the authors' order, and in a bit, I'll start putting them into their proper slots in the bookshelves."

"Yeah. When you're tired of running around, we'll trade roles."

…

White wiped away the perspiration on her forehead and picked up another armful of books that Y had organized. The Unova Dex Holder was just about to head over towards the bookshelves when the door to the library opened.

Immediately, all the maids and servants bowed as Platinum entered. White and Y quickly bowed as well in order to avoid looking suspicious. But now that their senior was here, their hearts began to race. What if the heiress immediately recognized them?

Platinum smiled at all of the maids and servants as she looked at each one. She suddenly stopped walking in front of two maids that she hadn't seen before. White and Y held their breaths as their senior was standing in front of them. The two girls remained in bow, hoping that the heiress would walk past them.

"My lady, these are the newest maids," one of the servants said.

"Oh, I see," Platinum said. "It is nice to meet you. If there is a problem, please do not hesitate to talk to me."

"Yes, my lady," the two girls said in unison, quietly so that the heiress may not recognize their voices.

Platinum stared at them for a few more seconds before she walked away. "I wish to have a cup of tea please," she said to the maids around her. "I wish to read for the next hour."

The heiress headed towards her reading room. Once she was out of sight, White and Y let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh wow… that was… nerve wrecking," Y said quietly as she pressed a hand over her heart.

"I know…"

"You two," a servant said as he approached them. "Prepare the Lady her tea, please. We will continue putting the books in the shelves."

"Okay. We're on it," White said without much thought. She exited the library and began to look around for a kitchen. There was probably a small one every floor for the guards and servants to have small coffee breaks every now and then.

"So this is our first opportunity!" Y said as she quickly matched her pace with her senior's. "If we follow Miss Platinum around, we can see what she does on a daily basis!"

"Yeah… as long as we don't get too close to her," White said. "It'd suck if we get detected now, after all that we did so far. I lost 13 strands of hair today. This kind of sacrifice demands a good outcome."

The two girls soon managed to find the kitchen and quickly boiled a pot of tea. They had no idea on the Platinum's preference of tea, as… they never saw her drink tea before. The heiress only drank what was available whenever she was with them, so White and Y had no way to knowing their senior's preference. Hopefully, the very first type of tea they spotted would work fine.

Once the pot was ready, White carried the pot and Y carried the cup and plate on a tray. The two girls carefully headed back towards the library, taking deep breaths to calm themselves down in the mean time.

Platinum was busy reading in the special reading room that was reserved for her. She was seated in a very comfortable looking chair, with her legs crossed as she rapidly read. She was seated pretty close to the windows, allowing her to read her books with the help of natural light, and providing her a calm view of Sandgem Town whenever she felt the urge to look outside.

White and Y stood frozen in the doorway to the room. Platinum was facing their direction due to the angle of her seat. And this room was… relatively small. When White or Y poured their senior her tea, the heiress would most certainly look up and would most likely recognize them. Y's hands began to shake a little, and the teacup and plate began to rattle on the tray. White quickly held the tray with her junior, preventing the cup and plate from rattling too much.

Platinum was completely unaware of their presence and kept reading. Her eyes moved across the pages so quickly, and she was flipping the pages so fast, it seemed like she was skipping the pages to look for pictures.

"She's… so fast," Y whispered to White.

"Yeah. But it makes sense," White whispered back. "Lady Platinum says she reads like 10 books a day, but I never saw her read. And she's never busy reading, so she must not spend a long time reading. She probably only spends a couple of hours, so she must read really quickly."

Y nodded, as that made sense. But… regardless, she still had to pour Platinum her tea. "So… who's going to… give her the tea?"

"Um… you go," White suggested quietly.

"Wh – What?" Y whispered in horror. "You go! You're my senior!"

"You're holding the tray," White argued silently, placing the pot of tea on the tray as well. "So go!"

"Miss Platinum will recognize me really quickly. She knows my voice. And the way I talk. And I can't fake a new voice or try to talk different! You… work for Pokéstar Studios, don't you? You own the place. So… use your acting skills!"

"I _hire_ actors and actresses! I'm not an actress! I can't act. I can't fake my voice or… anything like that! Why do you think I never appear in any Pokéstar Studios films?"

The two guards in the room turned their attention on the two girls. One made a signal with his eyes, telling them to hurry up and give the heiress her tea already.

White silently groaned and made a decision. Everyone would become suspicious _really_ soon. She took the tray from Y and carefully approached Platinum. She carefully set the small plate on the table in front of her and set the empty cup on it. Platinum glanced at the cup. White held her breath and slowly poured the tea with both hands, showing utmost courtesy, just like an actual maid.

"Here is your tea, my lady," White said in the most obvious faked voice in the whole world.

"Thank you very much," Platinum said with a kind smile as she looked up at the _maid_.

White froze when Platinum looked up directly at her. Fortunately, Platinum's glasses had slid down, and the room's light was behind White while the sunlight didn't reach high enough to reveal her face. And the Unova girl was wearing glasses! So perhaps there was a chance that Platinum did not recognize her though the blur, the shadow, and the disguise! And it was possible that Platinum was super distracted by the book she was reading. The Unova Dex Holder quickly bowed to hide her face and backed away.

Platinum took a sip of tea and resumed reading. White and Y still held their breaths as they quickly scurried away.

"Th – That was too close!" White whispered to Y.

"You think she recognized you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so?"

From behind, Platinum cast another glance at them. She raised her glasses and watched the two unfamiliar maids until they turned the corner in the hallway. One maid with really long blonde hair tied into large bun, and another maid with really long dark brown hair tied in a side tail… Interesting… Now, was it just her imagination that the brunette looked a little like White?

… No. Probably just her imagination. Why would the Unova Dex Holder be here, dressed as a maid? Platinum shook her head and resumed rapidly reading her book after another sip of tea.

From outside the library, White leaned against the wall with her hands over her heart.

"… I guess she didn't recognize me," she said between breaths.

"So… what now?" Y asked. "We learned that Miss Platinum reads books really quickly. What happens now?"

"Now you set up the dinner table in the dining hall," said a servant as he passed by with a tray filled with a variety of snacks for Platinum.

White pushed herself off the wall. "Alright. We're on it. Come on, let's see what Lady Platinum eats for dinner, and how."

…

Hundreds of plates later…

…

White and Y sat slumped by the corner of the dining hall, exhausted from setting up the gigantic table. They had no idea that a "dinner" meant a "feast for a hundred people". Did this really happen every day? No wonder Platinum preferred simple quiet dinners whenever she was with the Dex Holders.

Various servants and maids began to pour into the dining hall, each carrying a large plate. After a suspicious glance from one of the servants, White and Y forced their tired bodies to rise to help out once more.

Fortunately, the two girls were given a break after placing all the food on the tables. They didn't know what were in the plates as they were all covered up, so they couldn't see what Platinum ate on a regular basis. But at this point, they didn't care.

White and Y found a nice secluded corner to sit by and rest up. There was apparently a feast with multiple guests, and the more experienced servants and maids would take care of the petty needs of that feast.

"… This was a terrible idea," White mumbled as she leaned against the wall with her eyes closed. "… Who came up with this?"

"That was you," Y mumbled as a response, also leaning against the wall.

"… I'm tired," White said. "I didn't think that being a maid in this gigantic mansion would be this tiring…"

"Do we get paid for this?" Y asked as she looked over at her senior.

White shook her head. "… No… this was a special deal…"

Y sighed and leaned against the wall again. "… That sucks…"

For about an hour, the two Dex Holders remained slumped by the corner. They couldn't think of doing anything else, as they were just too tired from the day.

A servant suddenly approached them. White and Y groggily looked up at him.

"The Lady has called for you two," he said. "She wishes to see you immediately."

"Oh… um… where?" White asked as she struggled to get back up to her feet.

"She is currently in her relaxation room in the 7th floor."

"Alright… we're going," Y said as she got up as well.

The two girls slowly made their way towards the 7th floor. The maids and servants directed them towards Platinum's "relaxation" room, whatever that meant.

As they approached, they could hear music coming from ahead. For a brief moment, the two Dex Holders stood and listened to the music. It sounded like a quartet playing violins and other portable string instruments.

White and Y eventually entered Platinum's room. There was a quartet of musicians playing their instruments, while the heiress was in the balcony, watching the sunset while listening to the quartet.

"Um… did you call for us, my Lady?" Y asked in the second most faked voice in the world once the quartet stopped playing.

Platinum turned towards them and entered her room once more. "Yes, I did." She slowly approached the two and narrowed her eyes. "… Take off your glasses, please."

White and Y let out a nervous gulp and slowly took off their fake glasses. They tried to avoid eye contact, in hopes that their senior would not recognize them.

Platinum suddenly smiled. "Ah, just as I thought. White, Y, what are you two doing here, dressed like this?"

"We don't know what you mean," Y said with her same faked voice.

"Do not lie to me," Platinum said, sounding very cold despite appearing quite amused. "I recognized you two at the library. And White, I definitely recognized you when you poured my cup of tea. So I will ask again. What are you two doing here dressed like this?"

White let out a long sigh. "Alright, Lady Platinum. You caught us."

Platinum smiled happily and nodded. "As I thought."

"Sorry," Y said with a polite bow. "We didn't mean any harm or anything."

"I know," the heiress said as she sat on her chair. "Ordinarily, I would be upset if someone found a way to enter this mansion without my knowledge. However, I know that you two do not intend any harm, and you two have done some work in your time here. I heard that you two have arranged the books in my library, and you two have also assisted in setting up the tables for dinner. So I will forgive you for your illicit entry. But I am curious as to what your intent was."

"White and I were shopping, and… we wondered if you had to carry heavy shopping bags too," Y started. "And then we thought that someone may go shopping for you, which led us to wonder what your life was like on a daily basis."

"You could have asked me," Platinum said. "Or asked me to allow you to follow me for a day."

"We didn't want to be a nuisance," White said. "You wouldn't be able to do what you wanted to do if we followed you around."

Platinum slowly nodded. "Yes. Perhaps that is true. If you two were with me, I would not have spent an hour in the library. But now that you are here, I suppose we should do something fun tomorrow."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," White said.

"No, no. I wish to do something fun," Platinum said. "Change into your normal clothes. I will vacate a room for you for tonight. And tomorrow morning, we will head towards Snowpoint City, where we will be doing various activities such as skiing and skating."

"But we can't skate or ski," White said with a slight frown.

Platinum suddenly giggled a little. "Yes. I am aware. It would be entertaining to watch you attempt to ski or skate. And that will be your punishment for sneaking into this mansion." She suddenly stopped giggling and put on a (fake) serious expression. "Or would you prefer a different punishment?" She suddenly made a hand signal to someone behind her two juniors.

White and Y glanced back and saw a trio of guards looming over them.

"N – No, I think it'll be fun!" White quickly said to Platinum.

Platinum covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled some more. "Of course. Do not worry. It will be very fun." She directed her attention at the three guards. "Please vacate one of the guest rooms for my two juniors. And have that room cleaned up and ready for use."

"Yes, my lady."

White and Y let out a sigh of relief. Platinum gave them a warm smile. "Do not be so scared of me," she said. "You know that I will not harm you."

"We know," Y said.

Platinum looked down at her juniors' dresses again. "As I said, hurry up and change back into your normal clothes. When you return, we will think of something fun to do. And until you return, I will remain here listening to music."

"Okay."

White and Y bowed to their senior and headed downstairs towards the changing room. Platinum smiled as she watched them leave and signaled the quartet to begin playing their instruments again. She slowly closed her eyes and leaned back against her chair to enjoy the music.

"So, this wasn't too bad, was it?" Y asked.

"I think today went pretty good," White said. "Lady Platinum wasn't mad at us, we didn't cause any damage, and we got to see what she does on a daily basis. Now all we have to do is embarrass ourselves tomorrow, and lose another 20 strands of hair in about 3 minutes. And hopefully, we would've bonded with Lady Platinum enough to never attempt something like this again."

"And maybe tomorrow, after embarrassing ourselves on snow and ice, we can ask Miss Platinum to go shopping with us," Y suggested. "There, we'll see if we can get some servants to carry the bags for us."

"Maybe," White said with a nod. "But… I feel that Lady Platinum is playing with us right now. That scare with the guards, and making us embarrass ourselves tomorrow… she might actually make _us_ carry her shopping bags. I mean, we _did_ pretend to be her maids today."

"… Do you think Miss Platinum is… _cruel_ enough to do that?"

White let out a shuddering sigh. "You know what, Y? I think she can be. I think she spent too much time with your team. Remember, Gold is a part of that team. And you'll never know if he managed to convince Lady Platinum that playing tricks can be funny…"

* * *

**Next up:  
So Sapphire thinks she's on a date with Ruby to one of the islands in southern Hoenn. But Ruby brings along White so that he could help her practice for an upcoming Contest. And of course, White brings Black. And just like that, what was once a date has become a jumbled mess.**


	6. The Challenge

**In time for Halloween. A chapter that could've been used in DE instead of that "To Be Continued" one, that found a home here in SC.**

* * *

The Challenge:

October 31, classified location, Unova…

White whistled to herself as she read over the document on her laptop. It was time for the end-of-the-month evaluations of her employees and her companies' financial standings.

And for the first time in seemingly forever, everything looked to be in fantastic state. The net income was through the roof, and all of her employees have worked really well this month. In fact, she was going to give raises to a lot of them.

White smiled brightly. She was in such a good mood today! Nothing could ruin it. She quickly typed up the evaluations of her employees. Most would be covered by the vice presidents and their assistants, but she always typed up some evaluations personally.

White glanced at the clock. It was noon, and she was _almost_ done with all of her work today. After she finished… she didn't have any plans. Maybe she'd rest by watching the television, or just… nap.

There was a small blip from her computer as she received an email. She opened it and quickly read it. Hmm… apparently, those responsible for the delivery of some Pokéstar Studios products were involved in an accident and were unable to deliver. 200 packages would not be delivered at this rate.

White frowned. Those packages had to be delivered by today, or her company's reputation would fall. Well, it looked like she was going to have to handle the delivery personally. She replied to the email, stating that she would handle the delivery herself and resumed her work.

By the time she finished, her Xtransceiver beeped as it received a call. She pressed the button to receive the call and Black's face appeared on the screen.

"Hi, Black!" White said with a beaming smile, happy to see him. "What's up?"

"Hey, Miss President," Black said with a smile too. "I just wanted to see if you were doing anything today."

"Yeah… it looks like I have to deliver 200 packages to customers," White answered with a sigh. "The delivery guys were in an accident, so… I have to cover for them."

"Oh. That sucks. Need help?"

"That would be nice," White said. "Even with aerial transport, delivering 200 packages is… quite tiresome."

"Oh, I have an idea!" Black said. "Why don't we… have a little competition?"

"Like what? See who delivers their half fastest?"

"No, no. It's more like… I give you a challenge, and you give me a challenge. Whoever finishes their challenge first wins. And the loser gets to do whatever the winner tells them to do."

"… Okay… what kind of challenge?"

"I'll deliver all 200 packages for you," Black said. "By today. That's my challenge. And for you… how about… you beat a video game that I give you?"

White let out a laugh. "So let me get this straight," she said with a grin. "You have to deliver 200 packages to customers scattered around southern Unova, ALL before the day ends, and all I have to do is… beat a game?"

"Yeah," Black said. "And whoever loses has to do whatever the winner says."

"Isn't that a bit unfair?" White asked with a slight frown.

"Maybe you're right," Black said. "After all, we all know how terrible you are at video games. This little game might take you 3 weeks."

White's eyes twitched a bit. "Oh, we'll see about that!"

Black kept his smug expression. "Let me know if the game gets too hard and you want to give up."

"Hmph. Yeah, right."

"So we have a deal?"

"You bet. You're on!"

"Great! I'll see you in a bit. You can give me the list of addresses and what packages I'm delivering, and I'll give you the game."

"Alright. I'll see you soon!"

White hung up and stretched her arms and legs. Now that the delivery was taken care of, she suddenly felt so relieved. Again, nothing could possibly ruin the day.

Black came to her place an hour later, as promised. By then, White had received the packages that needed to be delivered and the list of addresses.

"So this is all the stuff, huh?" Black asked as he stared at the handful of large boxes stacked in White's living room.

"Yeah. The package is just a small box of merchandise," White said. "But 200 of them. For transportation, the small boxes are placed in larger boxes, which are placed in even larger boxes, which are then placed in the giant transportation boxes."

"So we got a box in a box in a box in a box. I got it." He suddenly put on a smug expression. "So. Are you ready to lose the bet?"

"Pff. Yeah right. Bring it on."

Black held up a small data storage device. "The game's on here. But be sure to put on headphones and turn the lights off before you play. With headphones, you'll get to hear the subtle hints much better, and with the lights off, you'll see the subtle movements on screen much easier. You'll need all the help you can get."

"Just give me that," White said as she snatched the device from him. "You won't be so smug when you lose the bet!" She gave him her house key. "Here's my key. That way, you'll be able to come in here to take the next batch of packages without needing me to open the door."

"Thanks. Now, ready, set, GO!"

White quickly rushed up to her room while Black dragged a giant box closer towards the front door. Once White shut the door to her room, Black clamped a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from bursting into laughter. Oh, she fell for it! This was going to be amazing.

Black opened the front door and had his Emboar carry the giant boxes outside one by one. He had called in a little favor from Skyla. And the Mistralton Gym Leader had sent a small squadron of assistants over, who would help him with the deliveries. Of course, White didn't know about this, so the squad had to wait outside until Black gave them the signal to start delivering.

Black gave them the signal and took the several small boxes that he would deliver personally. He still had to make it look like he worked, after all.

Meanwhile, White did as instructed. She shut the lights off in her room, and shut the blinds and the curtains. Her room was now really dark, to the point where she wouldn't be able to see anything, if her laptop wasn't running. She sat down on her chair and put the headphones on also as instructed.

She stuck the data storage device into her laptop and opened it up. She saw the game executable and double clicked.

"I can't wait to wipe that smug smile off of his face," she muttered as the game loaded up in fullscreen. She jumped in surprise when the game's music blasted in her ears, and lowered the volume a little. "That's better." With a sigh of relief, she clicked the option to start a new game, and another rather scary sounding burst of music blasted in her ears. And at that moment, a thought flashed across her mind. '_… Did Black just give me a horror game?_' White blinked a few times as she read and heard the opening lines of the game. '_… Yes, he did. … Oh no… … That jerk…_'

…

Several hours later, 11 pm…

…

Black slowly and carefully inserted the key into White's front door lock. He took his time, as this visit had to be _perfect_. He paused for a moment after each tick the lock made, until the key was fully inserted. He pressed his ear to the door. No movements inside. Good.

He carefully and quietly opened the door and entered. He took a few seconds to stand idle and focus on his hearing. He could hear White whimpering from upstairs. Yep. It was happening.

With a snicker, Black quietly closed the door and locked it. He took off his shoes and slowly crept upstairs. This had to be done perfectly quietly. He quietly approached White's room and again, spent a few seconds focused on his hearing. He scratched at the door with his fingernail and waited. No response. Good. Once he was sure that he wouldn't be detected, he quietly opened the door. The room was dark, as White had kept the lights off. As instructed.

He spotted the girl at her desk, with her shoulders bunched up. She had headphones on, so Black wasn't going to be heard. She was looking at the computer monitor, and even from behind, he could tell that she was _terrified_. But she kept playing the game. She was either super stubborn, or was determined to win this challenge.

Black clamped his hands over his mouth to stifle a laugh. Oh, this was just… hilarious. Of course, she wouldn't think so. But that was a later concern.

White suddenly let out a scream. In the game, she started to run as fast as she could manage. She glanced backwards in the game and spotted a… freaky figure chasing after her, and she screamed once more.

"No, no, no! Leave me alone!" White shrieked out. The figure lashed out at her and the screen went red as she took a hit. "AHHH! No!"

She let out another shriek as she was killed in the game. She then let out a whimper like groan as she stared at the dark screen. Black waited until the game resumed.

"Stupid game," White mumbled, her voice quite hoarse after a full day of screaming at the top of her lungs. "This is impossible… but I can't lose to Black…" With a sigh, she began to move her character in the game again.

Black waited until White's character had advanced further into the game before making his move. He slowly went up close to her and let out a dark, inhuman growl next to her ear. White gasped and froze. And for a moment, it looked as if she was trying to determine whether that growl was from her headphones or… from _something_ in her room. Black silently snickered for a little bit before he growled even louder and put his hands a little roughly on her waist.

White let out an absolutely bloodcurdling scream and curled up into a ball. Black burst into laughter as he couldn't hold it in anymore. For a while, he laughed to his heart's content, as White slowly realized what was going on. She took off her headphones and swiveled around in her rotating chair.

Black saw her _murderous_ glare, but couldn't stop himself from laughing. White slowly rose to her feet and took a step towards him. Black slowly stopped laughing, but had to try really hard to prevent himself from bursting into laughter.

"You JERK!" White screamed as she furiously slapped him on his arm. "You jerk! How could you do that to me?!"

"I'm sorry!" Black said while laughing again. "I couldn't help it. You know what day it is today!"

"You monster! You almost gave me a heart attack!" She took a glance at the game. "… You win, Black! I can't play that anymore. Alright? You win the bet!"

Black snickered some more as he tried his best to not laugh. "Uh… about that… I cheated. I got Skyla to help me in the deliveries. With the help of her assistants, all 200 packages were delivered… 6 hours ago. And since I cheated, you win by default."

White's mouth gaped open. "… What?! You… you made me play that _game_ for NOTHING?!" She resumed furiously slapping his shoulder. "You monster! I'm going to have nightmares thanks to you!" She pressed her hands on her forehead and closed her eyes. "Ugh… I won't be able to sleep tonight…" She glanced at the clock and groaned. "Oh, no! It's so late! I have to go to sleep now! But… I can't thanks to you!"

"Sorry." Black cleared his throat. "Well, you won, Miss President. So now you get to tell me what to do! Not that THAT is anything new. Am I right?"

"You're so mean…" White said with a sigh. "… Look… Can you just… spend the night here? Just sleep over. Because I won't be able to sleep alone today."

"If you wish," Black said. "Since I lost the bet, I have to obey."

White grumbled something incoherent before she shut off her computer and went to sit on her bed. She cast a quick glare at Black. "You sleep on the floor."

"Yes, Miss President."

Several minutes later, White had finished preparing for the night. She gave Black just one sleeping bag, obviously still feeling a bit angry at being tricked into playing a horror game for absolutely nothing. Black accepted the sleeping bag and fell asleep provokingly quickly.

For a short while, White glared at him before she tried to sleep as well. But every time she closed her eyes, she imagined being chased by that monster from that game. … This was going to be a long night.

A couple of hours later, Black woke up from his sleep. He slowly turned towards White's bed. The girl seemed to have finally fallen asleep. Black slowly grinned as a dastardly prank came into his mind.

He let out his impersonation of that dark evil growl from the horror game. He continued until he heard White gasp and quickly pretended to be asleep. He could hear White moving around on her bed and pinched himself from inside the sleeping bag to stop himself from snickering.

"Black?" came White's voice from the side. Black kept pretending to be asleep. "Black? … Did you hear that?"

Black didn't respond, and soon heard the girl getting off the bed. She gently shook him. He pretended to snore.

White let out a sigh of relief. Maybe that growl was just Black's snores. She certainly wanted to think that.

She was about to crawl back onto her bed when she noticed that Black looked really happy while asleep. She smiled a bit as she watched him. He looked quite cute… She couldn't resist the urge. She slowly reached towards his cheek with her hand…

Black suddenly opened his eyes and jumped towards her with his arms stretched out, and shouting: "BOO!"

There was a deafening scream that probably woke up everyone within a 5 km radius. And as Black covered his head with his hands to protect himself from White furiously whacking him with her pillow, he realized that… just perhaps, he spent a little _too_ much time hanging out with Gold and Emerald.

* * *

**The thought of this chapter occurred as I watched a playthrough of a horror game, with the player screaming and swearing really loudly. And I thought: "what if Crystal, White, or Y were… tricked or forced into playing this kind of game?" And thus the chapter was created. Could've been better with Gold &amp; Crystal. But I have a feeling that THAT would result in broken bones at the end.**


	7. Memory Lane

**Platinum's backstory! The chapter idea that existed before SC got repurposed. Deleted, upgraded, and re-uploaded. It now has an Alternate Ending, with some more add-ons here and there in the actual chapter.**

* * *

Memory Lane:

Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh…

"It was called the Memory Viewer," Red said, talking about one of the cool things he had done in the past few days.

"Memory Viewer? What is that?" Platinum asked.

"It's sort of like a therapy. Everyone has some memories that they can't remember no matter how hard they try. This therapy allows two people to view those memories. The patient needs to be asleep and won't remember those memories, but those that saw them could tell that person afterwards."

"That sounds interesting," Platinum said, looking quite intrigued.

"Yeah. And it works too. Blue took the therapy a few days ago."

Platinum looked over at the Kanto Dex Holder in question. Blue slowly nodded.

"I wanted to know my life was like before the kidnapping," she said quietly. "Before… everything went wrong… I can't remember when everything was going right."

"Green and I were sent into her memories for that," Red said. "And… well, it works. I found out what Blue was like before everything happened."

"I was… like a normal girl. Something I always wanted to be… Happy, fun loving… cheerful…" She let out a short sigh. "But that's all in the past now. Still, it was worth knowing."

"That therapy sounds really cool," Diamond said from the side, before popping a piece of bread into his mouth.

"Is there a limit?" Platinum asked. "I am certain that this therapy would not allow you to view the memories as seen by a baby."

"Yeah. It won't let you see anything before the age of 3. So Silver won't be able to find out about his life before the kidnapping, unless we give this therapy to Giovanni and we specifically hunt for memories of Silver."

Platinum remained silent for a brief moment as she thought about something. "… I would like to take that therapy."

"Huh? Why?" Red asked.

"When I was young, I have been to Lake Acuity. My father said as much. I do not remember this at all, however. And no one who would remember told me what exactly happened. I have asked Professor Rowan and my father but they would not tell me. And my earliest memories take place after the trip to Lake Acuity. I would like to know what happened on that trip."

"When did this trip take place?" Blue asked.

"When I was 5 years old," Platinum answered.

"Alright, I'll contact the doctors and we'll get this therapy underway," Red said. "Who's going to view your memories?"

"Red, you have the experience with this thing," Blue said. "So you're going in. And I guess I'll accompany you. I want to know what you did when you were in _my_ head."

…

1 week later, Veilstone City…

…

"So… what's going on here?" White asked as she saw a pair of doctors putting some kind of a device around Platinum's head.

"The Lady has some locked memories from her past that she'd like unlocked," Diamond said.

"Hey, here's a pamphlet," Y said, spotting the informational pamphlet on the small shelf next to where she was sitting.

While White and Y read the pamphlet, Platinum took one last look around the room. There were 5 Dex Holders in the room apart from herself, as she didn't want a too big of a crowd. Red and Blue were seated on a big machine like thing with cool looking helmets (though she couldn't see clearly since she had taken her glasses off). They were probably devices that let the two Kanto Dex Holders see through her memories. Diamond was seated on a chair next to her bed, holding onto her hand. She gave him a light smile to assure him that it would be alright.

"We're all set," one of the doctors said. "Are you ready to begin?"

Platinum nodded. The other doctor gave her what appeared to be a respirator mask. She put it on upon instruction.

"It's dangerous for your two friends if you wake up during the process," the doctor said. "So we'll be making sure that you remain asleep until they are safely out."

"I understand," Platinum said. She took a deep breath to calm herself and lied down on the bed. She looked at Diamond's expression and gently held his hand.

There was a sudden hissing noise coming from her mask and she rapidly lost consciousness as the sleeping gas took effect.

Red watched as Platinum's eyes closed and her breaths became regular. The doctors gave him the signal to go. Red nodded and pressed a button on his helmet. Blue mimicked his actions, and together, the two Kanto Dex Holders entered Platinum's memories.

…

Blue opened her eyes and immediately noticed that everything seemed… darker. It wasn't too dark, but all the colors weren't nearly as radiant.

"So I guess this means that it's working?" she asked Red, who was standing in front of her with his back turned.

"Yes it is," came his voice from behind.

Blue spun around and spotted another Red behind her. "What the…"

"Remember, this is Platinum's memories," Red said with a smile. "That me over there is from her memories."

"Oh, I see."

Blue took a look around her and spotted Platinum as well. The heiress was walking with memory-Red in what seemed to be a ski resort. The "intruder"-Red glanced around as well and slowly nodded.

"Ah, so that's where we are. Or rather, that's _when_ we are."

"And _when_ are we?" Blue asked.

"About… 3 weeks ago," Red answered. "I was visiting Platinum and she wanted me to join her in a trip to a ski resort." He kept looking around. "Dia and Pearl should be here too. Probably getting a table for lunch."

"So what are we doing here, exactly?" Blue asked.

"We'll need to find an item of significance. Something that would let us access more of Platinum's memories. Until then, we're just following Platinum around."

"Why can't I hear anything?"

Red pressed a button on a device that seemingly came out of nowhere and suddenly, everything had sound. "When we first enter a memory, we have everything muted. Apparently, there's a risk that sudden burst of sound may cause damage to us. So we start off muted."

As if on cue, Platinum spoke up.

"Thank you so much for accompanying me, senior," she said to memory-Red happily. "Today has been so much fun."

The memory-Red gave her a pat on the back. "No problem. Hey, it's been really fun for me too. I've never skied before, but it's fun. Thanks for bringing me along."

Blue watched the two memory Dex Holders smiling, and smiled as well. "Aww, isn't that sweet?"

Red smiled at her. "Feeling a little jealous?"

Blue let out a laugh. "Oh, Red. You know me better than that."

"I know, I know," Red said with a chuckle.

Platinum giggled as she happily walked next to her senior. She looked so happy, appearing as if she was having an unbelievable amount of fun.

"This is actually why I wanted to accompany you," Blue said as she stared at her memory-junior.

"What?" Red asked.

"… _This_. Why does Platinum look up to you so much? And why is she _so happy_ around you? You're not her only senior. You're also not the only senior who's really nice to her. Think about it. Sapphire is super nice to Platinum now. Though she wasn't when they first met. Crys and Yellow are super nice to her too. You, Yellow, and Crys are always so nice to all of your juniors. So why does Platinum only look up to _you_ so much?"

Red blinked a few times as he thought. "… Good question."

"Now… she looks up to you like a brother," Blue continued. "And I find that strange too. Ruby is really nice to her, and she is quite fond of him too. And yet, she does not look up to him like a brother. Similarly, she doesn't look up to Crys or Yellow like a sister either. So it's just you. Something about you is making her really happy and makes her feel comfortable. Now, I don't blame her, but I think this goes deeper than that. So… what?"

"I guess we're here to find out." Red looked down at his wrist, where that strange device was strapped. "According to this, the item we're looking for is nearby."

Blue looked down at her wrist and saw the same device too. So it was like a remote device for the two "intruders", so they're not trapped indefinitely in someone else's memories.

The two memory Dex Holders soon caught up with Diamond and Pearl, who had reserved seats for them in the cabin. While Red and Blue watched, the four memory Dex Holders took their seats around the cozy looking table.

Platinum took off her winter coat, revealing the thin black shirt she was wearing. And more importantly, exposing the beautiful necklace she was wearing as well.

"Hey, that really looks great on you," the memory-Red said, pointing at the necklace.

Platinum lightly blushed and felt the necklace with her fingers. "Thank you very much, senior."

"There it is," Red said, looking at the necklace.

Blue looked over Red's shoulder to see what he was doing on his device and mimicked his actions. And in a blink of an eye, both Dex Holders have jumped into the next memory.

…

Blue found herself looking at the displays in a jewelry store. She blinked a few times to register the sudden change in location before she started to recognize the area.

"Hey, this was that store from a month ago."

"Yeah. You're right there," Red said, pointing at the memory-Blue.

Blue looked and saw herself staring at a certain golden necklace. It wasn't the same one Platinum had worn during the ski trip, as this necklace was far… cheaper. Platinum didn't purchase jewelry from a random mall, after all.

"Something wrong?" the memory-Red asked as he came over.

"Huh? No. Just looking," the memory-Blue replied.

Platinum observed her two seniors carefully, and then stared at the necklace. Once the memory-Blue walked away, she approached the clerk and purchased the necklace.

"Senior Red," she whispered right afterwards. "I saw senior Blue staring at this necklace. I believe that she likes this, and I am sure that this would look great on her." She put the purchased necklace in her senior's hands. "Give it to her for her birthday. I am sure that she would highly appreciate it."

"Thanks, Platinum," the memory-Red said with a smile. "Yeah, she'd love it."

Blue turned to look at Red, who had placed a hand over his face. "Really, Red?"

"… It was supposed to be a surprise," he said with a sigh. "Since that got ruined, I'll just give it to you once we're back out."

"Aww, thanks!" Blue said with a smile. "Although, you didn't do anything here. Platinum's the one who bought it for me… I guess I should thank her instead."

"I think she'll be happier if she thinks that her plan worked. So just be nicer to her, and thank me publicly."

"Can do."

Platinum stopped next to another display case. This one featured a gold ring that was in the shape of a tiny cute golden Ponyta galloping, with its legs forming the ring. Red and Blue looked at it as well and glanced at their devices. This was the next item. They pressed the series of buttons on their devices and again, jumped towards the next memory further into the past.

…

Red blinked to clear the minor dizziness. He was now outside in a small park. These sudden jumps into completely different places were always a little dizzying.

He soon spotted Platinum sitting on a bench, smiling as she watched White. Y was standing next to the bench, also smiling.

The Unova Dex Holder was holding onto Platinum's Rapidash for dear life as it galloped around the park. It soon came to a stop in front of its trainer and White managed to get off.

"Oh, that's a lot harder than I thought!" she said as she sat down on the bench next to her senior.

"Or, you're just not that good at it," Y said with a laugh.

"Why don't you try it, then?" White asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Remember that I used to be a Rhyhorn Racer," Y said with a grin. "Or at least I trained as one for years. I'll have no troubles. Miss Platinum, why don't you show White how it's done?"

"Very well, then." Platinum rose to her feet and gently hopped onto her Rapidash, riding it sideways as she always did.

"Why do you always ride your Rapidash like that?" Y asked abruptly.

Platinum looked at her junior. "Hm? What do you mean?"

Y gestured at her senior. "I mean, when people ride a Pokémon like this… they don't sit on it sideways. If you're wearing a skirt, maybe. But even when you're not wearing a skirt like right now, you sit on your Rapidash sideways. Why is that?"

Platinum looked down at her Rapidash and noticed how she was riding it. "I… do not know. I suppose it may just be habit." She tilted her head. "Interesting… when I rode on Cresselia, I did not ride it like this…"

"Have you ever tried riding it normally?" White asked.

"No, I have not." Platinum repositioned herself so that she was riding her Rapidash normally. She slowly shook her head and repositioned herself once more. "I do not know why, but this feels more comfortable."

The device on Red's wrist beeped as it received a message from the doctors in reality. Blue got the message as well and she looked down at her device.

"_Stress spike_," she read out. "_The patient is trying to recall something crucial from her past but is unable to do so. The situation that led to the stress spike should be noted._"

"So something about riding her Rapidash sideways is trying to trigger some kind of memory," Red said. "But she can't remember."

"Have you always ridden your Rapidash like this?" White asked in the memory.

"Yes. For as long as I can remember," Platinum answered.

"How long did you have your Rapidash?" Y asked.

"For as long as I can remember," Platinum answered again. "Back when it was a Ponyta, it was always with me. … I do not remember how I got it."

"Another stress spike," Red said, looking at his device. "So her Rapidash is really important…" He glanced over at Blue. "Maybe we should get Yellow to try to read its thoughts."

"It probably wouldn't remember either," Blue said. "Silver tried that with his Sneasel. And all Yellow got were little flashes of memory." She stared at her memory junior's expression. "… We should move on. The device is pointing at… White? I guess she's our next memory link."

…

The next memory was when White first invited the other Dex Holders to a Pokéstar Studios premiere.

Red and Blue exclusively followed Platinum, as they were at that premiere as well, so there was no need to explore around again.

There were lots of camera flashes as the actors and actresses involved in the movies were photographed. And during each camera flash, X, Y, and Platinum looked uneasy. For X, it was understandable. For Y, also understandable, given her relation with X. But Platinum?

"Is something wrong, Lady?" Diamond asked as he approached Platinum.

The heiress quickly glanced back at another camera flash. "… Sorry. But photographers make me uneasy."

"You were like this when we first met the Unown," Diamond remarked. "When those news guys took a picture of the Unown right above us, you looked really anxious. But you never explained why. Can you tell me now?"

Platinum let out a sigh. "… If someone takes a photograph of me without permission, it usually implies that I have been targeted by someone for… terrible reasons. My father told me that Team Galactic used a photograph of me to lie that I have been kidnapped."

"Oh, I understand," Diamond said nicely as he held her hands. "A picture of you could be used as a proof of kidnapping or even as a target identification for someone who will try to kidnap you."

"Yes…" There was another sudden flash from behind and she cast a quick glance in that direction. "… Sudden bright flashes…"

"Do the flashes bother you too? But you're always so intrigued by lightning storms."

"I am not bothered by flashes of light from the skies. I know what causes them. But the flashes from behind…"

"Stress spike," Blue said as she glanced at her device. "That's 3 so far."

"Her Rapidash, the way she rides it, and the flashes of light from behind," Red listed out. "… I have no idea how what to make of it."

"Let's keep going, then."

…

For hours, Red and Blue explored Platinum's memories, noting each stress spike whenever they occurred. Since they were going in reverse chronological order, they were seeing their junior's personality changes in reverse. The Sinnoh Dex Holder went from being a very kind and sweet girl to an ice-cold heiress very quickly as Red and Blue watched the events in Sinnoh that involved Team Galactic, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina.

And eventually, as the heiress got colder and colder as younger she got, Red and Blue finally reached the Lake Acuity incident that Platinum had forgotten.

"We're finally here," Red said after the last blink. "So… how many stress spikes did she have so far?"

Blue thought for a second and listed them out. "There was one for riding her Rapidash, the Rapidash itself, flashes of light from behind, when she said that she always wanted an older brother, when she read less than 10 books on any given day, and when Dia first offered to take her skating. So, 6."

"I doubt we'll see all of those causes in this place," Red said. "I guess we'll have to dig deeper."

There was a beep on the device. It was apparently a note from the doctors in reality, telling them that they have now entered the memories that the heiress was unable to recall.

Red and Blue soon found the 5 year old Platinum. Her father and Professor Rowan were busy taking notes as they observed the habitat of a few Ice type Pokémon, and Platinum was with them, obviously not paying any attention to what they were doing. There were two guards and 4 other researchers (presumably Prof. Rowan's assistants) accompanying them.

The little Platinum didn't look happy. She didn't look angry, however. Blue frowned as she observed the expression. The little girl looked like she wanted something, and was sad because she couldn't get it. But what? She was the only child of a super rich family. Unless she wanted like… her own spaceport, there was nothing her parents wouldn't buy for her…

The little Platinum began to wander away from the group. The two guards were busy watching the researchers in case the wild Ice Pokémon turned hostile. Red and Blue followed the little girl as she walked in the snow towards the frozen Lake Acuity.

Platinum reached the frozen lake and stared at the small island in the center. She didn't move towards it, however, and just stood there staring at it. She suddenly pouted and looked down at the ice angrily. She began picking up scoops of snow and throwing them towards the frozen lake.

"… What is going on?" Blue said at last, after watching the little girl throw a dozen snowballs.

The little Platinum suddenly started to cry. She dropped to her knees and cried, but without making a sound. Red and Blue crouched next to her instinctively, but couldn't do anything here.

For a moment, the two Kanto Dex Holders watched their junior. They had no idea why she was crying. They could only stand and watch, wondering what to do now.

There was a sudden flash of light from the small island in the center of Lake Acuity. Platinum didn't notice, as she was busy crying. But she did hear a rather loud… whistle? Red and Blue heard as well and turned to see the flash of light.

The little Platinum lowered her hands and looked at the light. A small figure was in that flash and slowly approached the girl. Platinum covered her eyes to shield them from the bright light, but her curiosity overcame her and she slowly lowered her hands.

Red and Blue recognized the small figure in the light, as they have seen the Pokédex data once Platinum had shown them. It was Uxie. The being of knowledge was in that light and had approached the crying little girl.

Platinum wasn't crying anymore. She wiped away her tears and approached the Legendary Pokémon. She obviously had no idea what it was, and could only see a faint silhouette in the ball of light. The Uxie suddenly emitted a stronger burst of light, this time directly into Platinum's eyes. The girl didn't make a sound, but her eyes did open wide for a brief moment. And suddenly, the whole world turned dark as Platinum lost consciousness and fell backwards.

"… What?" Red muttered as he looked around in the dark world.

"If Platinum lost consciousness, she wouldn't know what happened around her," Blue said. "But I'm more curious about why she was crying. Platinum never mentioned this before. She doesn't remember anything about Lake Acuity except for her second visit while trying to protect the Sinnoh lakes."

Red glanced at his device. "… There's nothing here, though. We can't go any further into her past." He frowned as he looked over at Blue. "Do you think… Uxie wiped her memories?"

"Why would it do that?"

"I don't know. But I can't think of a different reason why Platinum can't remember anything before this point."

The devices suddenly emitted a series of loud beeps, like an alarm. The whole world slowly turned red…

…

In reality, White and Y snapped awake when they heard something strange. Realizing that they had dozed off, they quickly shook away the drowsiness and focused on the strange sound. It was rapid series of beeping noises, like an alarm, or a severely elevated heart rate.

"What's going on?" Diamond asked, while still holding onto Platinum's hand.

The heiress suddenly began to move around. She began to mumble something incoherent and even whimpered a bit. The two doctors began to check the various machines while typing into the console.

"Massive stress spike," one of the doctors answered.

"Look!" White exclaimed as she focused on Platinum's expression.

Diamond and Y looked and spotted tears slowly rolling down from Platinum's eyes. Y quickly fetched some tissues and Diamond used them to wipe away Platinum's tears. The three Dex Holders cast worried glances at each other as the doctors resumed their work.

…

Red and Blue looked around as the world slowly changed. Instead of using their device to blink into another memory segment, this time, the new memory segment was being loaded around them.

Red checked his device. "Massive stress spike," he said. "… I don't know what's going on. This kind of thing didn't happen with you."

"Odd how that works," Blue remarked. "A girl that had everything she could ever want in her life had stress spikes while I had none, huh?"

"Yeah. And for you, it was really easy. Just Ho-oh itself took me and Green straight to when you were 5. And if that failed, we still had a ton of stuff we could use to backtrack. Your mask from your days under the Mask of Ice, for example. But with Platinum, we don't know what's going on."

The new memory soon loaded up. The little Platinum didn't look any younger than the previous memory segment. A quick check on the device told the two Kanto Dex Holders that this memory was merely a week before the Lake Acuity incident.

The little Platinum was crouched down in front of a flower field of the Berlitz Mansion backyard, looking closely at a small Combee that was gathering honey from the flowers. She looked so intrigued by the Combee. Her curiosity was always strong, it seemed.

Red and Blue glanced behind Platinum, but couldn't see anything. Everything was very dark in this memory, except for a small circle around the little girl. The little Platinum was apparently not paying any attention to her surroundings.

There was a sudden flash of light from behind the girl. And at the same time, a dark figure suddenly tackled her from the side, knocking her down to the ground. There was another flash of light. The little Platinum screamed.

And in that instant, everything became bright as Platinum saw what was behind her. Red focused on the figure that had tackled the little girl, while Blue focused on the flash of light.

"Oh, dear," she muttered.

There was someone dressed as a gardener standing several meters behind Platinum, holding a gun attached with a sound suppressor, but not a flash suppressor, as it was rather pointless in strong daylight. Several guards were charging towards the assassin, but very slowly as in Platinum's memory, everything was slowed down at this moment.

Blue focused on the little Platinum again, who was now crying on her knees in front of the now-clarified figure lying in front of her. The figure had neatly combed black hair and appeared to be at least 10 years older than Platinum. A bodyguard? But he looked too young to be a bodyguard…

The little Platinum shook her head as her tears streamed from her eyes. Some blood had splashed onto her, but she looked unharmed. The figure had taken the two shots, saving her life.

"Stay strong, Platinum… you have to… stay strong…" the figure gasped out. "You must… be strong… you are… a Berlitz…"

"No, no, no," the little Platinum cried out, looking terrified and completely helpless. She obviously didn't know what to do in this situation, and she was panicking quite badly. "Big brother…"

The memory slowed down and started to turn red again.

"Uh… what?" Red muttered in shock.

"Did… did we hear that right?" Blue asked, quite shocked as well. "… Oh, no…"

"I… am sorry…" the _brother_ gasped out as his eyes were losing focus. "The… promise… …"

He stopped moving and his last breath left his lungs. The little Platinum trembled as her little hands reached forward towards her brother.

"Big brother?" she cried out, her voice shaking badly. Her little hands reached his shoulder and she lightly shook him. "… Big brother?" She shook him harder. "You're… you're just… playing, right? … … Right? … You… wouldn't leave me… right? … Big brother?"

Blue looked away as the little Platinum's expression crumpled on the verge of breaking down. The Kanto Dex Holder groaned and closed her eyes as she heard her junior bursting into tears.

The little Platinum cried as she buried her face into her dead brother's arm. She embraced his body as tight as she could as her cries turned into uncontrollable wails. And as the nearby guards rapidly approached her, the memory turned dark red and faded away.

…

In reality, Platinum began to move around much more. Her breaths were very fast, and her heart rate was accelerated. More tears fell from her eyes, and she began to grunt and whimper as if she was having a very bad nightmare.

"Lady? Lady!" Diamond called out.

"She won't wake up," the doctors said. "And she must not wake up either."

"What's going on?" Y asked, looking very concerned for her senior.

"Childhood trauma," one of the doctors answered, checking the data from the devices. "It's something that she does not remember that had been accessed by the two that are in her memories."

"Red and Blue accessed Lady Platinum's childhood trauma?" White asked. "But then… wouldn't Lady Platinum remember it now once she wakes up?"

"No. This is all in her subconscious. She will not remember anything new your two friends access in her memories. For her, it would just be as if she had slept normally. Nothing would have changed for her."

The three Dex Holders still cast worried glances at Platinum, however. … Perhaps this was something that they should not know about…

…

Another memory was forcefully loaded. Red and Blue simply watched the events unfold. This was only a few days before the previous memory.

The little Platinum slowly walked up towards her brother, who was sitting on a chair while reading a book.

"Oh, hello, Platinum," he said upon noticing her.

"Big brother, I'm bored," the little girl said with a little pout and a frown.

"I see," he said with a smile. "And what would you like to do?"

"I don't know. Something fun." She pouted more as she started to get upset. "You promised that we'd go skating some day!"

The brother chuckled lightly. "Yes. Our father and Professor Rowan will be going on a research trip to Lake Acuity next week. We will accompany them. Lake Acuity is in a really cold part of Sinnoh, so while the adults are busy with research, I will teach you to skate on the frozen lake. I will keep my promise, Platinum. Do not fret. But in the meantime, if you are bored, why not try reading?" he asked, while keeping a patient smile.

"But books are boring! I have to read enough boring books from my tutors!"

"I think it depends on what books you are reading. Admittedly, some can be very boring. But some, like this one here, can be really good."

"Really?"

"Yes. Come here." The brother gently lifted the little Platinum off the ground and set her on his lap. "I will read some good books for you."

The nearby guards fetched some children's books, as the 4 year old Platinum would not be able to comprehend a full novel.

For a while, Red and Blue watched silently as Platinum's older brother slowly read books for the little girl. He voiced each character differently, and obviously tried his absolute best to make the books sound fun and interesting. It had the desired effect, as the little Platinum was deeply engaged in the books. The children's books were short, so they were able to read past 9 of them rather quickly.

"One more!" the little Platinum said excitedly.

"Another one?" the brother asked.

"One more!"

"Ah, so you like reading now?" the brother asked with a smile. The little girl nodded enthusiastically. "Great. I will gladly read you another one."

"And I want to read another 10 tomorrow," the little girl said. "And another 10 after that!"

"10 books per day? Ah, Platinum… One day, you will become a really good scholar, and you will make us all proud."

…

"But why do I have to do this?" the little Platinum asked, pouting angrily. "I don't want to go!"

"But you must," her brother said patiently. "You must start learning proper etiquettes and receive the proper education."

"Why me? Why not you?"

"Because one day, you will be the most important person in this family. And to be ready for that, you must start learning at a young age."

"But… you're older than me!" the little Platinum said. "You'll be more important!"

Her brother knelt in front of her and gently held her shoulders. "Remember that the Berlitz family is matriarchal."

"Matri…archal?"

"It just means that the mother is the most important," he replied. "Currently, our mother is the matriarch. But one day, you will be the matriarch, and the leader of this family. You must learn to be the best for that reason."

"But… a tutor?"

"I know it would be hard on you, since you are so young. Being tutored in etiquette at the age of 4 would be difficult. But I know that you are really intelligent. I am sure that you will have no troubles. But if you ever need help for anything, remember to come to me. I will help you however I can. I promise I will always be there for you. And be sure to listen carefully to the lessons. They are very important."

The little Platinum still pouted for a bit before lightening her expression. "Okay. I trust you, big brother."

"Good. Now get going, Platinum."

The little Platinum nodded and hugged her brother for a bit before going on her way. Her Ponyta approached her and the little girl gave it a loving hug, enjoying the warmth provided by the Fire type Pokémon. She then looked over at her brother and jumped a little with her arms stretched out.

The brother understood and with a kind smile, headed towards her and gently lifted the little girl off the ground and placed her on the Ponyta so that she would be riding it sideways as always.

With a happy giggle, the little Platinum waved at her brother as the Ponyta steadily began to walk.

…

Again, Red and Blue found the very little Platinum staring at flowers in the backyard of the Berlitz Mansion. Since she was so young in this memory (3 years old), there was a maid following and escorting the little girl.

The very little girl looked so intrigued by the various colored flowers in the gardens. She gently touched the one of the flowers and withdrew her hand quickly when it moved from the contact. She let out a little laugh and focused on the other flowers.

"Platinum!" came a voice from behind.

The little Platinum turned around and spotted her brother walking over. She smiled and ran towards him with her hands stretched out. Blue saw the motion and winced as she felt something stinging from her heart. It was the exact motion that Silver had made when he first saw her the day she was kidnapped. He had run straight towards her like this… Although back then, Silver did so because he was terrified and was looking for someone to rely on. And here, Platinum was just really glad to see her brother.

The brother lifted his little sister and lightly swung around while holding her in his arms. "Are you having fun out here?" he asked with a bright smile. The little girl nodded with a cheerful smile of her own. "Very good. I have a present for you."

"Oh, really? What is it?" the little Platinum asked very excitedly.

The brother gently set his little sister on the ground and took out a Pokéball from his pocket. And while the little girl tilted her head, he sent out the Pokémon inside. With a bright flash of light, a small Ponyta appeared.

The little Platinum let out a short cry of surprise and quickly ran to hide behind her brother's legs. The small Ponyta looked equally surprised at the sudden cry and backed away a little as well.

"It is okay," the brother said with a smile. "It will not harm you. But this Ponyta has hatched recently. Try to avoid startling it."

The little Platinum slowly peeked around her brother's leg. The Ponyta looked a little frightened as well, but not hostile. It looked curious, more than anything. The brother crouched in front of the Ponyta and gently petted it. The Ponyta began to relax in the soothing pets and looked over at Platinum.

"See? It is nothing to be afraid of," the brother said to Platinum. "Give it a try."

The little Platinum hesitantly nodded. She still held onto her brother with one hand, but with the other, slowly reached over towards the Ponyta. Her brother gently grabbed her hand and led it towards the Ponyta, giving it a gentle pet on the head.

"It's so warm," the little Platinum noted.

"Yes. It is a Fire type Pokémon. The flames on its body are mostly aesthetic. They will not burn you. But as a Fire type, its body temperature is higher than most. So if you hug it, it will make you warm."

The little Platinum summoned enough courage and released her brother. She stepped towards the Ponyta and carefully gave the Pokémon a gentle embrace. The Ponyta had warmed up to her very quickly, and let itself be embraced.

"It's so cute and warm!" the little Platinum said happily.

"So, you like the Ponyta?" her brother asked.

"Yes, I like it!" the little girl answered. "Thank you so much!"

"Would you like to ride it?"

"Yes!"

The brother gently lifted his little sister off the ground and set her on the Ponyta so that she was riding it sideways.

"Why am I riding it like this?" the little Platinum asked. "In the picture books, everyone rides differently."

"It is just a safety precaution," her brother answered. "That Ponyta is very young. While it may be strong enough to let you ride it, there is a chance that it might get tired and fall. And if it was to fall, it is easier for you to get off unharmed if you sit like this. Also, if you lose balance while riding it, you can dismount easily without problems. And if the Ponyta gets startled, it may pull its head back, and if you are riding it differently, it may hit you on the head. So for precaution, I want you to promise me that you will ride the Ponyta like this, okay? The Ponyta should not be running quickly with you on it, so it should be perfectly safe for you to ride it like this."

The little Platinum beamed at her brother. "Okay. I promise!"

"Good. Be sure to play with it every now and then and take good care of it. And whenever you want to ride it, come to me and I will help you up. Now have fun!"

"Thank you big brother!" the little Platinum said happily. "I'll never forget this gift!"

For many minutes, Red and Blue watched the little Platinum carefully riding around her Ponyta, while her brother watched her on. The little Platinum looked so happy. She was having so much fun here…

"… So that's why she rides her Rapidash sideways," Blue said quietly. "… Her brother always helped her onto her Ponyta sideways…" She suddenly let out a groan. "Ohh…"

Red glanced over at her and noticed her expression. "You okay?"

"… Yeah, I'm fine," Blue answered. She put a finger over her eyes and was a little surprised to detect no tears. Since her current body was just a digital form in the machine, she couldn't really tear up here. "It's just… … Platinum had a brother who deeply loved her, and she really loved him too. And right now, all that she has left of him are her subconscious memories…"

"So all those stress spikes…" Red started.

"… They were all because of her brother," Blue finished. "She said that she always wanted an older brother, because she _had_ one, who died while protecting her from an assassin. She's uncomfortable about flashes of light behind her because her brother died after those flashes. She was too young to understand what they were, and her memories were suppressed by Uxie shortly after so she never understood. She's just uncomfortable with the flashes because of her subconscious. She always reads 10 books per day because her brother had read 10 books per day for her, and she feels bad if she doesn't reach 10 books because of it. She rides her Rapidash this way because her brother helped her on this way, and she doesn't remember when she got Rapidash because it was her brother's gift. And when Dia offered to take her on a skating trip… … Skating trip… that was her brother's last promise. The one that he couldn't keep, and his last words. That's why she was crying in Lake Acuity. … That promise…"

Red let out a long sigh. "… To think that she actually had an older brother…"

"… Uxie did the right thing," Blue said. "… By suppressing her memories, she was able to move on and be strong. And because of that, she became the girl that we know today. … Her brother really loved her, and she really loved him. If her memories were not suppressed, she would never have gotten over his death. Her parents probably never told her because they would want her to move on too." She let out a sigh as well. "Red, it may have been a coincidence that you and Platinum are both Dex Holders. But right now… it couldn't have been better for her. Her real brother… was about your age. Subconsciously, you remind her of him. That's why she's so close to you and wants to spend time with you. So Red, you _have_ to be really nice to her. You already are, but… just keep this in mind."

"I know what you mean," Red said with a nod.

Blue glanced at the little Platinum waving at her brother while still riding her Ponyta.

"… Let's get out of here," she said to Red. "I… can't watch this any longer."

"Yeah. But wait, what about the others?" Red asked. "Dia, White, Y… and even Platinum too. What do we tell them?"

"… We obviously can't tell Platinum about any of this," Blue said. "We need to make something up. And for the others, we can't risk it. We can't have them look at Platinum with sympathy. Sooner or later, she will catch on. What we saw here… has to stay between us and no one else. … It's for her own good." She cast a glance at Platinum's brother. "… It's also what he would want too. His little sister growing up strong…"

"Let's hope the juniors understand."

"They will."

After another glance at Platinum's happy memories, the two Kanto Dex Holders pressed a series of buttons on their devices.

…

In reality, White and Y noticed the tears slowly falling from Blue's eyes and quickly approached her.

"What exactly is going on in there?" Y asked as she lightly wiped away her senior's tears.

"Yeah… First Lady Platinum, and now Blue," White said as she cast a worried glance over at Platinum. "… Maybe this is something that we shouldn't know about."

Diamond slowly nodded. "Yeah… We'll know for sure once Red and Blue come back out, but we may have to hide this from the Lady. I don't want her to be sad."

The doctors suddenly began to type rapid commands on the consoles. And within a minute, Red and Blue began to move again and took off their head devices. Immediately, Blue noticed the moisture in her eyes and took a brief moment to wipe them.

"Are you okay?" White asked as she came closer. "… What happened in there?"

Blue let out a shuddering sigh. She slowly looked over at White. She didn't say anything and just stared at the Unova girl's eyes. White suddenly got the feeling that had been already forming inside her.

"… It's something that we shouldn't know, isn't it?"

Red and Blue grimly nodded. White, Y, and Diamond glanced at each other before nodding as well.

"We suspected as much," Diamond said. "… The Lady had cried a little. If what you saw and subconsciously triggered was enough to make her cry… it's definitely something that she should not remember. And we should not know about it as well, to avoid suspicion."

"Thanks for understanding," Red said. "… It's for her own good. No one must tell her or hint at anything."

"So when she wakes up… we have to come up with a story," Blue said. "… Just follow my lead, alright?"

The other Dex Holders nodded in agreement. Red looked over at the doctors.

"Doc, wake her up, please."

…

Platinum slowly opened her eyes. Everything was blurry, but she could tell there were 5 distinct faces looking at her. She blinked a few times and steadily, her vision cleared up a little. Everything was still blurry, but for a different reason. She found and put her glasses on to fix that problem.

"… Is it over?" she then asked, her voice rather quiet due to lack of strength. She then noticed that Blue's eyes were a little red and had some tear marks on her face. "Senior? Is something wrong?"

"No… it's nothing," Blue said. "… It's just that… you wouldn't wake up, and I was afraid that we may have done something harmful."

As if on cue, White and Y knelt beside their senior's bed. "We're so glad to see you're okay. We thought we lost you."

"Lady, please don't try something like this ever again," Diamond said as well, exaggerating his sadness too.

"Thank you all for your concern," Platinum said with a smile. "But I am okay. So, senior Red… what did you see?"

"That incident in Lake Acuity wasn't as exciting as we thought," Red said, making things up as he went. "You and your family were there on a research trip. And while everyone was busy studying the area, you wandered off. But one of your guards found you an hour later. You were just playing with snow, but they were afraid that something might have happened to you. You know how it is. Wild Pokémon, you were little, it was really cold… But Uxie was looking after you."

"Oh. I see. And before that incident?"

"It was just you growing up in your mansion, being raised into what you are now," Blue said. "It was interesting to see how a little girl grew up in a super massive mansion, though. Certainly different than how _I_ grew up."

Platinum slowly nodded. "Ah, so everything was normal. I was worried that something very important had happened that I forgot. But I am relieved that it is not the case."

"No, of course not," Red said with a straight face. "Now come on, Platinum. Let's go get something to eat. This process took quite some time. It's already dinner time!"

"Yes, senior. I am quite hungry myself. The Restaurant 7 Stars is relatively nearby. We should go there."

"Lead the way."

Within a few minutes, the 6 Dex Holders left the therapy room. Upon getting outside, Platinum sent out her Rapidash. Red and Blue froze from behind, but the heiress didn't notice. She simply gave her first Pokémon a gentle hug and patted it on the head with a smile, as she had done when she first got the Pokémon when it was a Ponyta. She then gently hopped on, riding the Pokémon sideways as always.

Blue let out a long, quiet sigh. "This is going to be hard," she whispered to Red. "… So much of her casual actions are the results of what we saw…"

"I know," Red whispered too. "… But it's for the better. It's more important for her to stay happy and not remember what really happened."

* * *

**I hope it was sad enough!**

**Time for the Alternate Endings!**

* * *

Alternate Ending:

Red let out a long sigh. "… To think that she actually had an older brother…"

"… We have to tell Platinum," Blue said after a shuddering sigh. "… We can't hide this kind of thing from her. She needs to know."

"But wouldn't it hurt her really badly?" Red asked with a frown.

"… Yes. But… she has to know," Blue answered. "She needs to know that she once had a very loving brother… But how will we tell her?"

"There's a feature that allows people outside to see the memories," Red said. "Basically, what we see are recorded and can be played back. Green and I chose not to do it for you because we thought that it would make you too sad."

Blue slowly nodded. "… Good choice. … Now I feel hypocritical, trying to show Platinum something that'll make her even sadder…"

…

Platinum slowly opened her eyes. Everything was a bit blurry, but her vision rapidly cleared up upon putting her glasses back on. And she immediately recognized the expressions of the 5 Dex Holders in front of her.

"Seniors," she started, looking up at Red and Blue. "Did you see my memories?"

"Yes," Red said, looking a little… afraid?

"… Is something wrong?"

"No," Blue answered.

"What did you see?"

Red and Blue backed away and directed everyone's attention to a large monitor screen. Platinum took off all the devices attached to her and approached the screen along with the others. Red pressed a button and everything that he saw in his junior's mind began to play, but from his perspective. He skipped straight to Lake Acuity, since Platinum remembered everything until that point.

"Lake Acuity," the heiress muttered, immediately recognizing the frozen lake. "… So I was there."

"Aww, Miss Platinum, you look so adorable!" Y exclaimed when little Platinum appeared on the screen.

"Yeah. You're so cute!" White said as well.

"Silence," Platinum said to her juniors, with a distant look in her eyes. White and Y immediately shut up, as they realized that their attempt to lighten the mood had failed horribly.

The little Platinum on the screen began to cry. Red and Blue looked away from the screen, as they knew why she was crying here. Her brother's broken promise…

Uxie approached the little Platinum in the flash of light. Diamond and Platinum both reacted to the sudden appearance.

"That's the same thing as what I saw in Lake Verity," Diamond said quietly.

"… I… remember," Platinum muttered, her eyes wide open. "… That light… I remember…"

The next memory loaded up. The memory in which Platinum's big brother died while protecting her.

"Oh, no," White whispered as she put her hands over her mouth.

Y and Diamond both looked over at Platinum with worry. The heiress hadn't blinked once since this memory had loaded.

"… Big… brother," she muttered quietly, frantically searching through her memories. She suddenly gasped as the memory seal that Uxie had created broke. "I… remember…" Her eyes watered and the tears began to roll down her cheeks as she witnessed her brother's death once again. "… Big brother…"

"Lady…" Diamond began.

But Platinum didn't pay any attention to him. She still didn't blink as she watched all of her happy memories with her brother. Reading the books with him, the promise to take her skating, the talk about the matriarchal system of the Berlitz family, riding on the Ponyta, the gift of the Ponyta itself…

Everyone looked at Platinum with worry. The heiress looked down away from the now-blank screen as a torrent of thoughts swarmed her mind.

She suddenly got up to her feet and began to walk away. There was something she just had to check. The other Dex Holders all followed, but she ignored them and continued to walk. Upon reaching the streets of Veilstone City, she sent out the borrowed aerial transport Pokémon and headed straight for home. The other Dex Holders followed again, as everyone was worried about her condition.

Upon reaching Sandgem Town, Platinum entered her mansion and immediately headed towards the backyard. She ignored Diamond who tried to ask her if she was okay and kept walking.

Within 20 minutes, she reached her destination: the Berlitz family burial grounds in the far end of the massive backyard. All the members of the Berlitz family who have passed were buried here, as part of the tradition.

Platinum had been here a few times in the past. But she had never looked at each marking properly. But this time…

The girl suddenly gasped and dropped down to her knees, in front of a particular tombstone. She began to tremble violently and she clenched her teeth as she tried to not cry.

"… Big brother…" she managed to say, as her tears began to stream down her cheeks again. "Do you… remember me?" She lowered her head and trembled even more violently. She looked so ashamed right now, the other Dex Holders feared that she might do something drastic. "I – I'm so sorry I forgot about you… Big brother… You probably never forgot me, but… … H – How could you leave me like this?" Platinum managed to look up at the tombstone and gently felt it with her hands. "You… you broke your promise… You promised you would always look after me… that you would be there for me…"

Diamond gently knelt beside Platinum and put a hand around her trembling shoulders. "Lady… I'm so sorry…"

"It's my fault," the heiress sobbed out. "… The assassin wanted _me_… If I was just more aware of my surroundings…" She began to break down into uncontrollable sobs. "You loved me so much… but I've been such a terrible sister… … I got you killed… and then I… _forgot_ about you… I – I'm so sorry…"

"That's not true, Lady Platinum," White said, wiping away her own tears. "You really loved your brother in the memories. You just couldn't remember him because your memories were suppressed. It's not your fault."

"Yeah. And I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be sad like this," Y said as well. "So please calm down, Miss Platinum."

"Platinum, I'm really sorry this had to happen," Red said with a sigh.

"… I wish to be alone," Platinum said to the other Dex Holders, her voice very quiet and shaky, but ice cold. "I need time alone."

"Platinum," Red tried to say, but the heiress interrupted him.

"Senior… I once said that I always wanted an older brother, and that I looked up to you like a brother. … I am afraid that I will retract that statement. … I am already the worst sister in the world. I cannot insult my big brother's memories any further by replacing him with you. I will always respect you, senior. But you are not my brother. Please understand."

"… I understand."

Platinum looked away from everyone else and focused on her dead brother's tombstone. "… I apologize, but I wish to be left alone. Please leave me."

Red sighed but nodded. "Very well then. Call us when you're feeling better."

Platinum slowly lowered her head and trembled as she felt more tears streaming down her cheeks. More memories of her beloved brother flooded her mind, and she berated herself for not remembering any of them before. She felt so ashamed… … 10 years. It had been over 10 years since her brother had died. And she had only remembered him now.

… This was something that she would never forget. Not again. This was a wound in her heart that would never heal…


	8. Rescue Effort Part 1

**Time for a multi-chapter miniseries!**

* * *

Rescue Effort Part 1:

Vermillion City, Kanto, 10 am…

A small group of Dex Holders was gathered by the Pokémon Center. Red stood leaning against the building, watching the two juniors in front of him while occasionally scanning the skies. Platinum and Y were seated on a bench in front of the Pokémon Center, chatting to pass the time.

Y still looked a little rigid. The Kalos girl had only met her seniors a few days ago, and understandably, she was incredibly nervous around them. She was quite eager to impress them and was trying her absolute best to not disappoint them. But the fear of accidentally offending or disappointing them was preventing her from relaxing, and ended up as rigid as a military boot camp graduate. Red tried his best to let her feel at ease, but so far, it hadn't worked.

Although, Platinum was like this too, when he first met her. She had warmed up rather quickly, however. But then again, the heiress had 10 seniors. Not 17. And not to mention the age gap.

Platinum was being very friendly to the newest junior, as she understood her feelings. She was the one to suggest on this Kanto tour. The idea was that, with the help of a couple of Kanto Dex Holders, she could take Y on a tour around Kanto, and allow her to befriend her seniors really easily. Throughout the trip, there would be plenty of opportunities to bond with the senior Dex Holders, and in time, Y would begin to relax and be more confident.

Red had mentioned this to the other Dex Holders, and Blue volunteered to come. And so far, she had yet to arrive.

"She sure is taking a while," Red muttered as he glanced at his watch. "She wanted to come this time. So she wouldn't be late."

Y looked like she wanted to say something, but closed her mouth as she felt that no one was talking to her. In order to not appear rude or up-front direct (she had been told she did that from time to time), she would not speak unless spoken to.

"Did you have something in mind?" Platinum asked her, noticing her expression.

Y jumped a little in surprise and sat up even straighter. "Oh! … Um… Perhaps we should give her a call?"

Red took out his Pokégear. "Good idea. Maybe she's just running late. But it can't hurt to check."

Y let out a short sigh of relief, and Platinum once again began to converse with her. At least Y was a bit more comfortable around her. Though just barely, thanks to the Sinnoh girl's status. Something about being an unapproachable heiress was intimidating the younger juniors.

"… She's not answering," Red said as he hung up. He tried again, and again a minute later, but still nothing. "Huh… Something's not right…"

"Perhaps we should visit her," Platinum suggested.

"Yeah. Maybe something happened." Red sent out his Aerodactyl. "Alright, let's go then. One Island isn't too far away if we fly."

Platinum sent out the Staraptor she had borrowed from her home, and Y had her Fletchinder. With their aerial transports, the 3 Dex Holders quickly headed towards One Island.

…

Red landed on the clearing in front of Blue's house. Platinum and Y followed him down, and the 3 Dex Holders returned their Pokémon.

During the flight, Red had tried to call Blue a few more times, but there still wasn't an answer. Blue didn't call back either, and he was getting more and more worried.

He approached the house and knocked on the front door. As feared, there was no answer. While he tried again and again, Y took the time to briefly check over her appearance, making sure that she didn't look unkempt. In the event that Blue was inside, she didn't want to look messy. Platinum noticed the motion and gave her a helping hand.

Y gave her senior a polite bow, thanking her for the assistance. But as she rose, something caught her eye from inside the house. Platinum saw the sudden change in her junior's expression and looked up as well. To her surprise, she saw a man in the second floor, briefly looking through the window before hastily disappearing from sight.

"Senior, there is someone inside!" Platinum said.

"What? Who?" Red asked.

"I do not know," the heiress answered. "A man who I do not recognize."

"What? … Blue's parents are in Johto for a vacation… so who could…" Red's expression turned rigid and he turned to face the door again. "… You two, circle the house. See if you can spot anything unusual."

Platinum and Y quickly began to circle around the house, going opposite directions, scanning every detail. There were no movements from inside the house. So whoever this intruder was, he was likely hiding.

Y soon spotted something. There was a window that was broken. It appeared as if the intruder had broken the window in order to unlock it from the inside, thereby allowing him entry into the house. Y quickly ran back towards Red to inform him.

"Um… sir," she said as she approached him. "I found a broken window. I think it's caused by whoever's inside."

"Then we're going in," Red said. He glanced at the door for a second before he began to move. "Normally, I'd suggest in having someone posted out here in case whoever's in there decides to run out, but right now, with just three of us, it's too dangerous. We're all going in."

Red reached the broken window, which Platinum had been guarding. Red quickly opened the window, being careful with the broken shards. Since the intruder inside knew they were coming, there was no need for stealth. He entered through the opening and then quickly opened the backdoor to the house to allow the two girls in.

The three Dex Holders charged upstairs. As they ran up the stairs, the noticed various traces of blood and dents on the walls, indicating that there had been some sort of a fight here recently. With Red in the lead, they soon reached Blue's room.

He opened the door and charged inside, getting ready for a fight. Y entered as well, covering her senior's blind side, while Platinum remained behind.

There was no one in the room, but Red froze upon seeing its state. There was a lot more blood here, and the desk and chair were broken. All drawers and closets seemed to have been ransacked as well, as all sorts of clothes were strewn around, some absorbing the blood on the floor.

Red crouched beside Blue's bed and spotted a bloody handprint on the wall. The size of the handprint indicated that it belonged to a girl. … Blue…

Suddenly, there was motion from behind, as if someone was bolting out of their hiding place and making a mad dash towards the exit. The three Dex Holders spun around and saw a man rushing towards the stairs.

Red jumped up to his feet and ran after him, but Y was faster. The girl leapt towards the intruder and managed to grab his leg before he reached the stairs. The intruder ran down the stairs anyways, dragging the girl with him. Y held onto his leg to try to stop him, but the man overpowered her and she ended up holding on as she slid down the stairs, and gasped as each stair slammed into her chest.

Thanks to her efforts, the man tripped on the final couple of stairs and crashed into the floor. Y hit the floor next to him, and she scrambled up to her feet with her arms wrapped around her chest. The intruder jumped up to his feet before the girl could recover from the tumble and smashed the back of his hand into her face to push her aside. Y still remained on her feet, so the intruder kicked her on the chest to knock her onto the stairs, hoping to delay the other two Dex Holders enough to make his escape.

Platinum quickly knelt in front of her junior to check her condition. Red couldn't allow the intruder to escape and he jumped over his two juniors to continue his pursuit. The intruder slammed the door shut on his way out, forcing Red to spend the time to open the door and thereby lose all of his momentum. By the time the Kanto Dex Holder had charged outside, the intruder was nowhere to be seen. Red didn't give up so easily and circled around the house to see if he could spot the intruder running away, but found nothing.

After circling around the house for two full rotations, Red cursed and entered Blue's house again. Platinum was seated next to Y on the stairs, with a hand on her junior's back, trying to help her catch her breath. The Kalos Dex Holder was coughing repeatedly with her hands on her chest.

"Y, are you okay?" Red asked as he crouched in front of her.

The girl coughed again, but tried to sit up straight. "Yes. I – I can manage…"

"Senior, did you catch him?" Platinum asked, although she knew the answer given Red's expression and the fact that there was no one behind him.

"No. He's gone. He just disappeared. Probably had an Abra or something for Teleport," Red answered with a sigh.

"I'm so sorry," Y murmured, lowering her head in shame. "I could've held on longer. I could've stopped him."

"That's not true," Red said. "You did everything you could, and more than what you should. You shouldn't risk yourself like that, being dragged down the stairs with him."

"But because I couldn't hold onto him, he's gone," Y said.

"While I do believe that Y should not have risked herself so dangerously, I am afraid that we have lost our only lead on knowing what has happened to senior Blue," Platinum said worriedly. "Capturing the intruder would have provided us critical information."

Red lightly shook his head. "Not necessarily. While catching that guy certainly would've helped, I wouldn't say that we lost our _only_ lead. Knowing Blue, if something bad was happening to her, she'd have multiple contingency plans in motion. I know that she programmed a little beacon on her necklace pendant in case she's in trouble somewhere and need us to reach her. And that is when she's on the move. This is her house. There are bound to be clues left behind for us."

"I see. While we do not know what senior Blue has left for us, she has left something for us to find. This… may be difficult," Platinum said with a short sigh.

"Yeah. … Let's split up and start searching," Red said. "I'll search around Blue's room. You two find the other places with blood and search the area."

The three Dex Holders scattered around the house to begin searching. Red searched Blue's room as he said. Platinum searched the stairs and the areas leading up to the front and back doors. Y searched other areas, such as the kitchen and dinner table, in case something of interest would be there.

After an hour of searching, Red found something. Underneath Blue's bed, he found one of the girl's earrings. Blue only had 3 pieces of jewelry that Red knew about. Her necklace and two earrings. She would never drop any of them. And it would certainly not end up underneath the bed, close to the wall, with no dust on it. … Blue must've tossed this as whatever had happened to her.

Red rotated the earring around, trying to spot something unusual about it. But like most of Blue's stuff, whatever tampering she had done was invisible. He went over to Blue's laptop, and found it on. It seemed that the intruder was trying to access something from her computer, but failed, either due to time restraints (as Red, Platinum, and Y were making their way inside), or due to encryption and other restrictions that Blue had created.

Red accessed the camera feature on the laptop and moved the necklace towards the small camera lens on the monitor. As hoped, the camera detected something specific on the earring, and the pre-programmed routine started to run.

A video file was downloaded from somewhere and a video player program opened up to play it.

It was a recording of what happened. So Blue had indeed left a trail for the other Dex Holders.

The current screen showed a reflection of Blue, as the girl was looking into a mirror. She seemed to be quite worried. The video was recorded from a small lens embedded onto her earring, apparently, as Blue's finger blocked the screen as it passed by the earring.

"_Is it running? … Okay, it is,"_ Blue said in the recording. She cast a worried glance at her door. _"… Someone's in here… A window just broke, and I can hear movement. I was about to leave to meet up with Red, Platinum, and Y. But right now… If anything happens…"_

Something loud smashed outside and Blue gasped. She quickly moved towards the corner of her room, hiding from plain sight. There was another loud smashing noise as the door burst open. Blue was hidden behind the door, so she wouldn't be seen. Yet.

The room suddenly became visible as the intruder closed the door. And now Red could see that there were _two_. One of them, he recognized as the guy that he had chased. The other guy was new to him.

"_Ah, there you are,"_ said one of the men. _"We've been looking for you."_

Blue didn't say anything. When one of them approached, she quickly sidestepped and shoved him into the wall. She ducked underneath a punch swung by the other guy and shoved him into his friend, trying to buy herself time to escape.

But even as she turned around to face the doorway, she yelped and she was dragged backwards. She turned around again, and even through the flurry of hair, Red could see that one of the intruders had grabbed Blue by her hair and was forcefully yanking her backwards.

Blue gasped and doubled over as she received a punch to her stomach. Her hair once again obstructed the view of the tiny camera lens so Red couldn't see what exactly happened, but he surmised that the intruders had slammed the girl's head into the wall to knock her down to the floor. One of the intruders suddenly appeared on the screen and began to strangle Blue. The girl began to gasp and choke and her hands briefly appeared on the screen as she tried to loosen the grip around her throat.

The man suddenly moved closer towards the camera as he applied more pressure. Blue took advantage and with her fingernails, quickly swiped at the man's eyes. The man howled in pain and released Blue, allowing her to gasp for air and back away. The man's partner tried to subdue her again, but she fought back once more. She kicked him repeatedly in the leg to force him to back off and scrambled up to her feet.

The moment she had gotten up, a fist flashed across the screen as Blue took a punch to the face. She yelped in pain again as she was pushed into the wall once more. The man who had been swiped suddenly appeared on the screen, with blood coming from one of his eyes, which he clenched shut.

"_You're going to pay for that, you little bitch,"_ he growled out, looking at the blood on his hand.

One-Eye punched Blue in the face once again and shoved her towards the desk. The girl screamed in pain as she crashed into the corner of the desk. The camera "zoomed in" on the desk's surface as Blue doubled over in front of it for a short while before she slid off to the side and hit the floor hard.

Blue slowly looked down at her body. Her hands were pressed firmly against her stomach. She pulled her hand up and there was a lot of blood on her palm. Red couldn't see the details of the injury, as the wound was obstructed from the camera by the girl's breasts, but given the amount of blood visible, he could tell that it was quite bad. The camera now faced the desk, and Red could see that the top corner had a lot of blood on it.

One-Eye saw the wound and began to stomp on it angrily. He grabbed her by the throat and roughly threw her towards the wall between the desk and the bed. Again, Blue hit the wall hard and collapsed onto the floor.

The girl's hand suddenly appeared on the screen. And in between her fingers was her earring. She held it with a bloodied trembling hand. Though her hand had a lot of blood, the tip of her fingers did not, so the earring did not get any blood on it. Blue looked at it for a second before she tossed it under her bed.

The screen shook violently and Blue gasped in pain as One-Eye (presumably) continued to attack. Blue's pained gasps continued for a short while before she lost consciousness in the unforgiving kicks.

"_Hey, hey! We need her alive,"_ a man's voice said from the back, presumably belonging to One-Eye's friend.

"_I know that! I'm just softening her up so that she'll talk later."_

"_Well, it sure looks like you're trying to kill her."_

"_Look, I don't need you to tell me what to do, alright? You just take a look at her computer to see if you can get anything. I'll take this bitch back to the place so we can begin."_

One-Eye grabbed Blue by her neck and began to drag her out of the room. The screen began to blur as the two earrings were getting too far away from each other. And before the screen turned completely black, Red could see that One-Eye had thrown Blue down the stairs.

A series of messages appeared on the screen. Red quickly paused the video to read each message.

"_Recorder out of range. Sending shutdown signal. Sending stand-by signal. Standing by."_

The video ended and Red stared at the laptop screen for a while. So Blue was attacked by a couple of men in her own home, was brutally beaten up and hurt, and got kidnapped… Red felt his anger coursing through his veins at the thought of one of his closest friends being brutally attacked like that. … He had to save her.

Fortunately, Blue had contingency plans, and was prepared for the unexpected. Her two earrings had small devices programmed into them that transmitted data between them. So one earring could be used to trace the location of the other.

"Hold on, Blue," he muttered quietly. "Help is coming…"

* * *

**I was saving this series for after I retire, and post them on Tumblr, but… screw it.**

**Next up: part 2, obviously. I expect that this series would be 3 chapters long. But I don't know for sure. Could be a 5 part series.**


	9. Survivor

**I WAS going to update the Rescue Effort series, but… meh. My decision. The part 2 of that series will come later.**

**Time for a "remake" of an SR chapter that never existed!**

* * *

Survivor:

Veilstone City, Sinnoh, 12 pm…

The entertainment centre that was normally filled to the brim with people was unusually empty this day, as it was not anywhere near the peak hours. Instead of hundreds of people filing in and out repeatedly, only a few people were present.

This day was a special day, as it marked the 1 year anniversary of all 19 Dex Holders meeting each other. It was a very special occasion… until more Dex Holders appeared from other regions, in which case the next year after meeting them would be special. But for now, X and Y were the youngest Dex Holders, and as the oldest, the Kanto Dex Holders have thrown a big party.

"Welcome, everyone!" Red said as the last group of Dex Holders arrived at the centre.

"This place is huge!" White said as she hurried over towards the others.

"Yes. Platinum told us that after 3 pm, it's like impossible to step inside because of all the people," Blue said as she welcomed her Unova junior. "So let's enjoy this peace while it lasts."

"Yeah. So let's kick it off!" Red declared. "And for the very first event… Green and I have a little bet. It's something we've been meaning to do, but we never got to it. But this time, we will settle our differences."

"Each of us will form a team," Green said. "And then we will compete in non-Pokémon topics and see who can lead their team better."

"The game we picked today is… paintball!" Red said. "The last team standing wins. And the losing team leader gets to pay for the paintballing. I hear each paintball is worth 200 PKD. So… that'll stack up quite fast. And we are NOT allowed to borrow money from Platinum, or get her to pay for the whole thing."

"Now boys, I think I'll stay out of this," Blue said. "If anything, I want to watch you two compete. If I join in, I'll just disrupt the balance. Yellow, you should stay out of this too. Your telekinetic powers are a little bit unfair in here. And you too, Dia. That way, it'll be an even 8 vs. 8, and you can start planning for dinner in peace."

"Great. So how do we divide our teams?" Gold asked.

Red and Green faced each other and readied their fists.

"Rock…"

"Paper…"

"Scissors!"

Green smirked as he glanced at his open hand and Red's closed fist. "Looks like I win." He looked over at each of the other Dex Holders, scrutinizing each of them. "… Rakutsu."

The Unova Dex Holder shrugged and moved over to stand on Green's side of the group.

"Again!" Red said, readying his fist. Green won again. "Damn."

"Sapphire," Green called out. "Ruby," he called upon winning the third round. "Emerald. … Silver. … Crystal." He smirked at Red, who stared at his hand in disbelief. "Ah, Red. You're so predictable."

"… This is quite the start, huh?" Red said with a feigned smile. "… I've never had a battle this one sided before. I mean, damn."

And for the 7th time in a row, Green won. "Hm. If I take Gold, that means I take all of the senior side of the Dex Holders. So I suppose I'll take Black instead."

"… Then by default, everyone else is on my team," Red said with a sigh. "So… Gold, Pearl, Platinum, White, Faitsu, X, and Y."

"Well, GG!" Sapphire said happily. "You guys are done for!"

"Hey! It ain't over 'till it's over, you little brat!" Gold yelled back.

Sapphire joyfully ignored him. "Good luck and have fun, Red team!"

Blue put her hands on Diamond and Yellow's shoulders. "Well then, _Blue team_, let's go set up some surveillance so we can watch all the action without getting messy."

…

Red led his team into the weapons area. There were all sorts of standard paintball guns, each with a label of its renting cost. Now he had a choice. He could get the more expensive paintball guns… and pay for all of it upon losing, or he could soften the economic blow by getting the cheaper ones.

"We should go frugal," White suggested. "We can probably move around fast. We don't really need heavy firepower, do we?"

"So we trade in power for mobility," Red muttered. "Hmm… I suppose. Alright. Arm up!"

Red team scattered around the area to pick up the weapons they wanted to use. Red picked a standard rifle and a standard handgun. They didn't fire paintballs too quickly, but they were acceptable. The other male Dex Holders did the same, and all the girls opted to just take one paintball handgun.

Green team entered next. Green glanced at the weapons selected by Red team and smirked. Rakutsu went up to the young female clerk on the register and gave her a charming smile.

"Miss, where do you keep all your high-end gear?"

The clerk walked over towards the end of the room and slid open a section of the wall that wasn't recognizable as an open-able section.

"Ooh, that's fancy," Sapphire said as all sorts of _expensive_ paintball guns became visible. She hefted a huge paintball gun that was even bigger than her. "I'll take this one! … It's pretty heavy, but it looks cool!"

"… Well, that's not fair," Gold said, watching Sapphire swing the paintball _minigun_ around, testing its balance. "… I guess it's too late for us to change our weapons, huh?"

Red laughed. "Well… all we have to do is _dodge_. It's like dodge ball! Where they throw 20 more times than we do!"

Emerald took a paintball sniper that was longer than his height. He seemed to have gotten that comparison in his mind too, and grumbled something under his breath as he looked down the sight then through the scope.

A few members of Green team took _normal_ paintball guns. But the others did not and opted for the more exotic weapons.

Black hefted the paintball rocket launcher and grinned. "This is going to be fun!"

White scowled at him. "If you shoot that at me, I swear you are going to _regret_ it!"

"Yes, Miss President," Black said with a sigh.

Green tapped him on the shoulder. "I hereby order you to take out White."

"Oh. Well, there you have it," Black said. "I have no choice, Miss President!"

"Alright, everyone," Blue said as she entered the weapons area. "The spectators are in position. Everyone put on your safety goggles, and let's get the show on the road!"

Gold simply lowered his own goggles while everyone else put theirs on. Once everyone was ready, they opened the large double doors and entered the battlefield.

…

Blue lay face down on the invisible barrier created by Mr. Mime above the battlefield. From there, she could see the carnage unfold without getting paint splattering onto her. The battlefield was the size of a basketball court with all sorts of obstructions and walls. There were two buildings on the opposite sides of the area, serving as the bases. Red and Green teams would start from their bases once Blue gives the "go ahead" signal.

Diamond sat next to her, with a huge bowl of popcorn in front of him. Yellow was seated next to him, occasionally tapping the invisible barrier with her fingers.

"So, who do you think is going to win?" Blue asked as she watched Red and his team looking around his base.

"I want the Lady's team to win," Diamond said as he munched on some popcorn. "… But I think Green team is going to win."

"Yeah. I think Green's going to win," Yellow said as well.

Blue nodded. "I want Red to win… but I doubt that he will. But you never know! I wonder if it'll go down to Red and Green being the last members of their teams. Wouldn't that be interesting?" She cleared her throat and spoke through her Pokégear, which was connected to the sound system of the battlefield. "Alright everyone. Start! Good luck, have fun, and I will confirm kills if I think you're dead!"

"Whoever gets the first kill gets a bucket of chicken all to themselves!" Green yelled out to his team. "So go out there!"

Emerald quickly crawled up to the highest point in the base and dropped down onto his belly, with the sniper paintball gun aimed towards the other side of the battlefield. Due to the paintball limitations, the shots of the sniper were much smaller than a regular paintball gun, but shot a LOT faster. With this, he could shoot someone and hit them before they could even-

Emerald pulled the trigger. The paintball sniper went off with a crack, sending a small paintball flying towards White, who had peeked out of her cover to see who was there. The shot missed, since Emerald hadn't fired the gun before and as such didn't know how to compensate for gravity.

White shrieked and quickly hid behind cover. "That's… so unfair!"

Black snickered and tossed something small towards White. The small ball like object hit the girl on the head and bounced onto the floor. White rubbed her head and glanced at the object, and realized that it was a paintball grenade. She quickly kicked it away… accidentally towards Platinum. The heiress saw the motion and moved around the wall to hide herself.

"Oh, a near accidental team-kill!" Blue said through her Pokégear. "It looks like White is _quite_ inexperienced!"

"Sorry, Lady Platinum!" White said.

Platinum didn't respond, and stayed in cover. White felt embarrassed at having made such a… stupid mistake. With clenched teeth, she popped out of cover and shot her paintball gun blindly, hoping to catch someone off guard. Her blind fire made the others take cover, _including her own team_, which greatly hurt her pride. With a growl, she reloaded her paintball gun and proceeded to fire again.

From the other side, Black snickered again as he hefted his paintball rocket launcher. He set his sights on… White. He _was_ ordered to take her out, after all. So he was going to do just that. Also, seeing her absolutely freak out would be a _bit_ funny… since she couldn't murder him for this. He had an excuse!

White, unaware of the situation, kept popping out of her cover at regular intervals. Black timed the appearances and shot the rocket, which was basically just a single giant paintball. The rocket flew straight towards White's position just as the girl popped out once more for her blind shots.

There was a loud splat and a pained and furious scream. Black quickly took cover to avoid White's wrath and waited for Blue to confirm the kill.

"Ooh, a headshot!" Blue said in the sound system. "That has got to hurt! White is _dead_! … And Black might be too in 10 seconds or so!"

Black could hear a furious set of footsteps and braced himself. The moment he blinked, he saw a pair of feet on the floor right in front of him.

'_Uh oh…_' He gulped nervously and slowly craned his neck up. He had to hold his breath to avoid snickering despite the fact that he was staring at his death, when his eyes reached the top half of White's body. And from there, all he could see was a giant blob of red paint that vaguely resembled White's upper half.

White wiped away the paint on her goggles and bared her teeth as she snarled in anger. Black took a nervous gulp again just as she reached down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Why you…" she growled out, leaning dangerously close to him, while pulling him off of the ground. The paint from the strands of her hair began to slowly drip onto his face. "… Do you have _any_ idea… how long it's going to take me to wash all this damn paint from my hair?!"

"I was ordered to do this!" Black said in his defense. "I had no choice!" White skill kept her murderous glare (or what he assumed underneath the thick layer of paint), so he tried to… bargain with her. "Uh… I'll share some of the chicken with you," he said, his voice shaking. "I mean… I _did_ get the first kill… so I get a bucket all to myself. I'll share with you… if you let me live!"

White growled some more but eventually released him. "Hmph. Fine." She held a strand of her hair in her hand and stared at the thick paint in disgust. "… You're lucky that I'm hungry right now. Or you'd wish you were back in the Light Stone."

…

Green watched Faitsu in the distance. The young girl was quite inexperienced as well. She didn't even shoot her paintball gun, as she was afraid of getting picked off by someone she couldn't see. Either that, or she was patiently biding her time. If the former, then she was just a free kill. If the latter… she would have to be removed quickly.

He looked over at Emerald and caught his attention. He gave the Hoenn Dex Holder a series of instructions with his hand, and got an affirmative nod. Emerald relayed the information to Rakutsu, who had been acting as his spotter… sort of.

Rakutsu took a paintball grenade and lobbed it towards Faitsu's cover. The girl was still hiding when the grenade hit the floor next to her, a little too far to kick it away. With a shriek, she quickly ran out of cover to avoid the blast. Emerald saw his chance and shot the paintball sniper, hitting the girl right on the side of the head.

"Oh, a headshot!" Blue declared over the announcement system. "Faitsu is down!"

Red saw the girl fall and decided that this wasn't going well at all. "Regroup! Team, fall back!"

The remaining team members soon gathered in the base. Gold stayed near the window to see if there was an assault coming, but still close enough to hear everything his team said.

"Okay, so we can't take them head on," Pearl said with a grumble. "Their firepower is too much."

"We sort of planned to stay mobile," Y began. "But… it's hard to do that when Emerald is picking us off from the distance."

"Right. So we have to deal with him first," Red said. "So here's what we're going to do…"

From the other side of the battlefield, Green watched the enemy base for movement and smirked. He knew what was happening. "Ruby, Sapphire," he called out. "Go out in the open field and start dancing. Silver, Crystal, go cover them. Emerald, keep an eye out for movement."

The team acknowledged his order and carried it out. Ruby and Sapphire put their weapons on the ground next to them in the middle of the battlefield and began to perform a slow couples' dance. Sapphire scanned the enemy base while doing so, and soon made eye contact with Gold. She gave him a wink and with Ruby, sped up the dance to something faster and fancier.

"Captain," Gold said to Red, while keeping an eye on the open field. "We're being BM'ed!"

"BM?" Platinum asked.

"The act of showing bad manners," Gold explained. "The two Hoenn lovebirds are showing us plenty of bad manners. They're literally _dancing_ in the middle of the open, just letting us know that we're screwed so badly, they can waste time and allow us to take shots at them without losing." He observed around the dancing duo and spotted Silver and Crystal behind cover. "It looks like Silver and Super Serious Gal are waiting to ambush us. And Odd Boy is definitely providing cover with his damn sniper. We can't stop Fashion Boy and Wildchild Girl. All we can do is watch them dance."

Pearl's eyes twitched in anger. "The hell with that!" He tapped X on the arm. "Let's go teach them a lesson!"

"Wait! X!" Y tried to say, but X and Pearl have already charged out of the base. "Damn it! Not again!"

"Pearl! Stop!" Platinum shouted, but she knew it was futile.

Pearl and X stepped out into the open and began to fire their paintball guns. Ruby leapt into cover while Sapphire simply dodged the oncoming paintballs. With one hand on her hip, she tilted her head and shook a finger at them.

"So rude," she said mockingly. "Interrupting our dance like that. So very rude indeed."

Silver and Crystal popped out of their cover and began to fire. However, X and Pearl had planned for that happening, and Silver took a shot on the shoulder just as he forced the two charging Dex Holders back into cover.

"No! Silver is down!" Blue declared. "Ambush has backfired!"

But as X was heading into cover, Emerald had managed to shoot him in the back with his sniper, leaving only Pearl. Sapphire hefted her paintball minigun again and silently made her way towards him. Pearl was still in cover, and as a result failed to see her coming.

"Pearl! Look out!" Platinum shouted. "Senior Sapphire is coming!"

Pearl heard her and quickly readied his paintball gun. But it was too late, as the moment he decided to make a run for it, the first thing he saw was the paintball minigun that began to fire.

"Oh, X and Pearl are both down!" Blue said. "It's 7 vs. 4 now! It's not looking close at all!"

Green surveyed the situation and gave the order once more. "Everyone except Emerald! Breach and clear! Get in there and eliminate them!"

Red let out a sigh and put a hand on his head. "… My friends… hear me, for there is little time left…"

The survivors of Red team gathered around him. Including Red, there were only 4 left. The team leader glanced at his remaining team members, noting each of their expressions.

"… All that remains of our team… our pride… (and my wallet) are those that stand beside you now," Red said slowly. "… Trust in each other. And fight as one will. Let our last stand burn a memory so bright, that they won't BM us anymore!"

"Alright!" Gold yelled out. "Lock and load! Let them come to us!"

"There are two entrances to this base," Platinum said. "The front door is easily defendable. But the side door is not. If senior Sapphire kicks it open, we will be vulnerable."

"And they outnumber us," Y said. "Even with Green and Emerald not charging at us, I don't think we can hold this place long. … And I'm sure Crystal has a shotgun. It's not a good situation for us."

"In that case… we're abandoning base. But we'll wait until someone barges in, overwhelm them, and charge right through." Red glanced at both entrances. "… Preferably the side that doesn't lead us straight into Sapphire."

Gold climbed higher on the base to peek through the windows once more. "It looks like Wildchild Girl is going to barge in through the side door. Odd Boy's got the front door covered, I think."

"The front door it is," Red said. "Emerald might hit one of us, but Sapphire will hit all of us. We'll take the chances."

"That cop dude and Dream Boy are coming up in the front door," Gold said. "We can take them."

"Alright then, get ready!"

…

Green still observed the enemy base from his own base. So far, no movement. And that could mean one thing. Red was planning to charge out of the base. In that case…

"Sapphire, kick the door," he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Sapphire said. She hefted the paintball minigun and slowly made her way towards the side door of Red's base. Ruby and Crystal stood by her side with their own paintball guns, ready to storm the base. "Alright! Breach and clear!"

After taking a breath to get ready, Sapphire delivered a strong kick to the side entrance of Red team's base, smashing the door wide open. She then immediately opened fire with the minigun, in case there was anyone hiding in the shadows.

"Hey, hey! Take it easy! Each shot costs 200 PKD, you know!" came Red's voice from further inside the base.

"Sorry, Red!" Sapphire yelled cheerfully. She continued to fire. "This thing fires 20 shots per second! It's hard to fire one shot at a time!"

Crystal peeked over her junior's shoulders. "… I think Red and the others left through the other door."

"Then let's go get them!"

Red signaled his team to go. Y kicked the front door open just as Black was about to open it from the other side, effectively slamming the door onto his face. Rakutsu quickly leveled his paintball gun, but Gold had grabbed the stunned Black and used him as a shield just as Rakutsu fired.

Gold shoved Black's body into Rakutsu, knocking both Unova Dex Holders down. He then rolled forward to dodge Emerald's sniper fire, and ducked behind cover. Platinum followed and took cover as well, but after quickly searching through Black's jacket pockets for anything useful. Y finished off Rakutsu and joined her teammates after looting the rifle off of the Unova Dex Holder. The moment Red arrived as well, the four resumed moving.

The four quickly made their way towards Green's base, being careful to stay low to avoid being picked off by Emerald.

"I got them!" came a loud voice from the side.

Red glanced to the side and saw Crystal making her way over. Which meant that Ruby and Sapphire were moving to surround them from all sides.

"Everyone, split up!" Red said. "Or we're doomed!"

"I got this!" Gold yelled as he charged at Crystal, with his billiard cue fully extended.

Crystal quickly aimed at him, but he whacked the gun with his cue, forcing her to miss. She kept trying to fire, and Gold kept whacking it to the side, or even directly blocking the barrel with the cue. Occasionally, Gold tried to shoot back, but Crystal used her foot to knock his gun aside.

Crystal momentarily stopped firing as she had to load in more paintballs. Gold took the opportunity to swing his cue at her, forcing her to block with the paintball shotgun. He swung harder and harder, and the girl kept blocking.

"Hey, that's dangerous!" she yelled. "You're going to really hurt someone with that!"

"Says the girl firing her shotgun nonstop in point blank range!" Gold yelled as well. "This is _war_!"

"In that case!" Crystal parried the oncoming cue and delivered a spinning back kick to send the cue flying away.

Gold aimed his paintball handgun and shot multiple times in succession. Crystal jumped to dodge, but after the spinning kick, she wasn't able to regain balance fast enough. She took a shot to the shoulder, and it caused her to drop her weapon and stagger backwards.

"Oh, Crys is wounded!" Blue declared. "She's still in the fight, but is wounded badly!"

"Looks like I win this round, Crys," Gold said with a grin, aiming his paintball gun right at Crystal's head.

Crystal smiled while holding her "wounded" shoulder. "Or so you'd think, Gold," she said calmly. She quickly jumped to the side just as Sapphire began to fire from her minigun.

Gold saw the Hoenn girl appearing out of nowhere and jumped in surprise. "Holy sh-"

"And Gold is down!" Blue yelled with a laugh. "He never stood a chance!"

…

Y peeked over her cover. Emerald was… aiming directly at her! She quickly ducked just as a paintball exploded on the cover just inches away. She moved away a bit and poked her head out for a split second before she ducked back again, just before another paintball exploded nearby. Okay, so the Hoenn Dex Holder was aiming almost exclusively for her. … Perfect.

Emerald watched through his scope as Y dashed and took cover behind another low wall. Though he couldn't see her directly, he could see her long blonde hair sticking out of the cover. The girl looked around for a second, indicated by her ponytail turning left and right, before she dipped lower into the cover for a few seconds.

Emerald relaxed a little when the girl's ponytail was back in his scope sights. Y's current location was a little hard to see from his current position, so it was possible for her to slither away unnoticed. But unfortunately, her long hair was giving away her position. And as long as he could see the hair through his scopes, Y wasn't going anywhere.

For a long while, Y didn't move. Emerald frowned a bit, as he expected her to poke her head out at least once or twice. But she wasn't moving at all. There was absolutely no motion… was there something wrong? Or…

Emerald suddenly felt the barrel of a paintball gun being pressed onto his back. He jumped in surprise and quickly looked up and saw… Y?

The girl was grinning from ear to ear and was crouched while keeping her paintball rifle aimed at his back. And surprisingly, her hair was suddenly really short.

"What the…" Emerald muttered, looking back through his scope. Y's hair was still there… "… What?"

Y laughed a little. "Hair extensions," she explained. "I've been using them while my hair grew back, ever since Team Flare almost cut my head off." Her smile suddenly vanished and she sighed. "… Look, don't ask…"

Emerald looked through the scope again and Y's hair suddenly fell towards the floor. And he could see that the girl's _hair extensions_ were actually attached to Gold's billiard cue that was just resting against the cover…

Emerald chuckled and looked up at his junior, who was smiling triumphantly. "… Clever girl…"

"You know it," Y said happily. She pulled the trigger.

…

Red and Platinum slowly approached Green's base. Now the tables had turned! Soon, Green would know what it feels like to be raided… And they had to hurry as well, since Ruby and Sapphire were on their way. Although Y would be able to assist as well…

Green suddenly popped out of cover for a split second and shot a single paintball, which hit Platinum in the chest. Fortunately, the paintball was from a small gun, so the heiress wasn't instantly "killed". The girl screamed and fell into Red's arms and dropped her weapon.

"Oh, Platinum is wounded!" Blue declared. "She'll die in less than a minute!"

"Whoever manages to kill Platinum gets a whole box of pizza for themselves!" Green yelled out, moving back into his base.

"Alright!" Sapphire shouted from somewhere in the distance. "I'm getting hungry too!"

"Hey! Who gave you the power to make such decisions?!" Red yelled from below.

"All you have to do is win, Red," Green said. "And then my offers will backfire."

"Oh, I _will_ win! You'll see!"

Platinum gasped as she pretended to be rapidly bleeding out. She leaned against the cover and appeared to be extremely tired.

"Senior, I cannot go on," she said between breaths. "If I continue, I am breaking the game's rules."

"So what, are you just going to sit here and wait for someone to confirm the kill?" Red asked worriedly.

"In a manner of speaking," Platinum said as she fished out something from her pocket. "I have a nasty surprise prepared for my Hoenn seniors. I shall go out with a bang, as senior Gold would say."

Red slowly nodded and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "… Good luck."

"Senior… please win."

"I'll do my best."

Red gave her a nod before quickly moving away. Platinum remained seated and held the _surprise_ in her hand, concealed from view. She had to act like she was dying, which involved hyperventilating. It was rather difficult to do, but for the sake of realism…

She paused when she heard Ruby and Sapphire coming near. She held the _surprise_ tight and waited for the opportune moment. Ruby and Sapphire soon came into view. Platinum put on a pained expression and weakly looked up at her seniors.

"Sorry, Platinum," Ruby said as he aimed his paintball handgun at Platinum's forehead. "But you know how it is."

Platinum smiled. "Yes. I do know…" She opened her hand, revealing the paintball grenade that she had looted off of Black. "Sorry, seniors." With her "dying" breath, she threw the grenade directly at Sapphire, hitting her in the chest.

Meanwhile, Red had regrouped with Y (who had reattached her hair extensions) and was about to charge into Green's base when he heard a loud scream from where he had left Platinum. And the scream was Ruby's, most likely freaking out about the thick layer of paint that had now gotten onto his clothes. … Come to think of it, it was a miracle that he even agreed to play this game…

"Oh, Platinum is dead!" Blue declared over the sound system. "But Ruby is dead! Sapphire is dead too!"

"Well played, Platinum," Red muttered silently. He glanced over at Y. "Are you ready?"

"Yes sir," Y said with a determined look on her face. She readied the stolen paintball rifle. "Let's do this."

Red slowly signaled a 3 count. When the count ended, Y kicked the door open and aimed her paintball gun. There were no movements and no sounds could be heard. She held her breath and stepped inside the base, quickly aiming her weapon to the right of the doorway. Nothing. In a split second, she swiveled around to aim the paintball gun the other direction. But it was too late.

Green was standing right in front of her as she faced the left of the doorway and the moment that Y jumped in surprise, he grabbed her gun to stop her from shooting him, and shot her point blank in the stomach with his own paintball gun. He then pushed her back, and as she staggered backwards, he shot her three more times in rapid succession.

Y let out a short gasp (as the paintballs stung in point blank), and realizing that she was now "dead", acted her part and staggered into the far wall before slowly sliding down to the ground.

Red saw Y "die" and realized that an enemy was right there. After mentally counting to 3, he charged inwards, running into Green. The Gym Leader aimed his own paintball gun and the one he took from Y, but Red was too close. Red managed to knock Y's weapon away, but had his own weapon knocked down as well. He quickly smashed his hand into Green's paintball gun to knock it away and drew his paintball handgun just as Green drew his second paintball handgun as well.

The two now faced each other with their paintball handguns aimed at each other's chest. Both didn't blink or move an inch.

"… It doesn't have to end this way," Red said slowly.

"No. But it does have to end," Green said.

Red nodded. "On that, we agree. We've been competing with each other for our whole lives. And where do we end up? Staring at each other down the barrels of our paintball guns. Nothing's changed between us."

He swallowed nervously. Green had better reactions than he did. Probably. Maybe. And Red knew that his paintball gun didn't have many shots left. How many did Green have? He didn't shoot for the _entire_ game. … So in short, Red was at a disadvantage. … Maybe he could…

He smiled. "I know you, Green. You wouldn't shoot an old friend, now would you?"

Green started to laugh. And Red felt that his old friend was about to lower his guard… But then he felt the shot of a heavy paintball gun that hit him right in the back, which forced him to stumble a few steps forward.

"You're right Red," Green said as he lowered his paintball gun. "I wouldn't shoot an old friend."

Red regained balance and turned around. … Who else was left alive that could do this? When he looked back, he saw Crystal smiling while holding a paintball shotgun with one hand.

"Sorry, Red," she said as she lowered the gun. "But this is a better outcome, no? Now we'll never know who would've won in a direct confrontation between the two of you. Or whether any of you would betray the other's trust."

"So, now that that's over," Green began. "Who got the final kill on Platinum? Who gets the pizza all for themselves?"

"Platinum blew herself up," Red said. "The paintball grenade that she looted from Black. So I guess she gets the pizza."

"I suppose so." Green shook Red's hand to signify a game well played. "Now then, let's go eat. I hope the royalty you get from that robot TV show is enough."

"Yeah, yeah," Red said as he left the base. "But hey, it's for the juniors, right? I'll manage." He laughed for a few seconds before he slowly rubbed the back of his neck. "This was really fun. We should do it again some time. … Without putting money on the line. But we'll see, I suppose. But for now, let's eat! … I'm… buying."

* * *

**And now to continue on with the Rescue Effort series. Unless something else gets in the way. You never know.**


	10. Rescue Effort Part 2

**The miniseries is back! This will be the last series that's not a standalone story.**

* * *

Rescue Effort Part 2:

One Island, 3 pm…

Platinum and Y watched the recorded video clip as Red played it again. All three Dex Holders were silent for several minutes after the video ended. Red waited for his two juniors' reactions as he thought about the next course of action.

"… We should probably tell the others," Y suggested. "If all of us work together, we'll have much higher chances of successfully rescuing Blue."

"But that will take time," Platinum said. "The other seniors are scattered across Kanto and Johto. Gathering all of them will take time that we do not have. And if we act in too big of a number, we will be detected much faster." She looked over at Red. "A fast thunder does not give time for one to cover the ears. If we act now, we may be able to rescue senior Blue before the kidnappers react and anything worse happens."

"But how do we find her?" Y asked.

"Senior Blue has left us her earring so that we may track her location," Platinum said. "So we should find someone nearby who is adept at tracing the signals that are being received between the earrings."

"Yeah… The most technically savvy person I know is Blue," Red said. "So… trying to find her could be a problem."

"Can't anyone else help?" Y asked.

Red crossed his arms and thought for a second. "Bill lives in Goldenrod City, but he's rarely at home nowadays, and he's the only technical person that I know that isn't one of us. … Green isn't in Kanto right now. Yellow barely knows how to use a machine, let alone tracking. Gold isn't any better. Silver… might overreact in this situation, so it's best to leave him out. … I guess Crys could help. She's the most technically savvy out of those left." He took out his Pokégear and began to scroll down the list of contacts. "Uh… do either of you know her number?"

"… Do you not have senior Crystal's Pokégear number?" Platinum asked in disbelief.

Red rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah… I usually see her frequently enough in Pallet Town that I never really bothered to ask. Heh."

Platinum called Crystal on her Pokégear while Y helped Red add Crystal as a contact.

"Senior Crystal is not answering," Platinum said a minute later as she hung up.

"Oh yeah, she's at a conference in Hoenn," Red said. "Hmm… that sort of makes things difficult for us…"

"Maybe Blue anticipated something like this and has something in her computer that could help us," Y suggested. "It sure seems that _none of us_ know how to trace signals, so it would not help Blue if she is counting on us to trace her location in the event of trouble."

"Good thinking," Red said as he gave her a gentle pat on the back. "Search her computer. She may have some sort of an… automatic tracing thing."

"Doing so would invade senior Blue's privacy," Platinum said. She held the earring in front of the computer camera and typed a few commands on the computer. Soon, a new window popped up, but this one with all sorts of data displayed. "… I may be able to trace the signal myself."

"Really? You can?" Red asked.

"Yes," Platinum answered, staring at the flowing data with unblinking eyes. "In Sinnoh, there were several instances where I had to triangulate the source of an energy signature for research purposes. My mother was involved in the study of Rayquaza in Johto, and the created Green Orb was linked to Rayquaza. Upon purification, the orb would be able to track the location of Rayquaza, and allow the user to control it… in theory. I have studied the archived data of the research project. The energy tracing and triangulation are largely similar to tracing a specific electronic signal. If I am correct, this will not take long."

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?" Red asked.

"I am not adept at this," Platinum said. "Senior Blue would be much faster than me. I had thought that some of the other seniors would be better than me. But if none are available, I will help to the best of my abilities."

For the next hour, the heiress stared at the flowing data, trying to make sense of it. She occasionally consulted the regional maps, checking a variety of data points that looked like coordinates. She tested her theories with tracing known locations (such as her own home), and mentally crossed out the incorrect data points.

Eventually, she let out a sigh and turned to face Red and Y with a smile.

"I believe I got it. I am certain that I have narrowed down senior Blue's location to a neighborhood in a town." She rubbed her eyes a little to rest her eyes for a bit. "I have tested this with multiple signal sources, and I am now certain. Unfortunately, the signal is weak for some reason, and I am unable to pinpoint the exact location."

"Great job," Red said, giving her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Thanks to you, we have a real shot at saving Blue. So let's go. Where is she?"

Platinum opened a map of the Sevii Islands. "She is held somewhere in the southern half of Six Island."

"Let's get over there as soon as we can," Red said. "The faster we get there, the faster we save Blue."

…

The three Dex Holders arrived at the Pokémon Center of Six Island. After returning their aerial transport Pokémon, they headed towards the southern half of the residential area.

"There are a lot of houses here," Y said as she observed the neighborhood.

"I can only assume that the kidnappers have taken her to their home, likely keeping her in the basement," Platinum said.

"That could be why the tracing signal was weak," Y suggested. "And if Blue yells or screams, the neighbors would be suspicious. So she would probably be locked away in the basement so that she can't be heard from the outside."

"Which also means finding her would be a bit more difficult," Red said. "We won't be able to hear Blue or the kidnappers. So we'll have to peer inside the windows or something."

"But there are a lot of houses. That would take a lot of time," Y said. "I guess we should split up, then? If we each search a different section without any overlaps…"

Platinum took out the map of Six Island and flipped to the most relevant page. "I will take this section," she said as she circled a part of the map.

"Then I'll take there," Red said as he selected his section as well.

"I guess I'll take the rest," Y said.

"Y, keep your Fletchinder in the air and keeping a close eye on all of us," Red ordered. "If anything happens to any of us, it will have to alert the others, and converge on that location. If we find anything, we'll signal the Fletchinder, and it will alert the others to converge as well. Everyone got it?"

"Yes sir," Y said with a nod.

"Of course, senior," Platinum said as well. "Good luck, and please be careful."

"You too," Red said, as he eyed the houses that was his responsibility. "Keep in contact, and report all that you find. Let's do this."

The three Dex Holders split up and began investigating the houses. Fortunately, Six Island was always rather quiet, with absolute minimal activity on the streets. The three Dex Holders could approach each house and carefully peer through the windows without being spotted from the streets. Still, each Dex Holder took precaution.

Red peeked inside a house from the street for a split second. He detected motion inside, and could hear some kid yapping. He doubted that the kidnappers would have a kid around, so he moved on towards the next house.

For the next couple of hours, he searched the houses, while occasionally checking up on Platinum and Y. So far, no one had anything to report. But Platinum was still certain that Blue was somewhere around here.

Red sat down on a bench near the park for a little break. He looked at the houses visible nearby and wondered if he had missed something. Surely, if the kidnappers were in some house, there would be some hints. Such as… no visible motion indoors. But every house he checked had some motion inside, whether a family was gathered for dinner or some kid running around, or… the sound of a movie playing.

Feeling frustrated, he walked over towards the edge of the island and rested against the guardrail. The sunset over the horizon was beautiful to look at, but did little to ease his frustration.

His Pokégear began to vibrate. It was Platinum calling, so he quickly answered, hoping that the heiress had found something.

"Hey Platinum," he said.

"Senior, have you found anything?" the heiress asked, sounding tired.

"No. Have you?"

"Not yet. I am beginning to feel that I have incorrectly traced the signal," the girl said with a sigh. "… It is my fault… I should not have volunteered. I should have waited for someone adept to aid us. Instead, I overly relied on my lackluster skills and I have ruined our only chance of finding senior Blue…"

"No, that's not true," Red said. But he couldn't think of what to say next, as it really looked like they were in the wrong place.

Platinum seemed to have taken Red's silence as a silent reprimand. "I… I am so sorry, senior… I know how much you care for senior Blue and…"

"It's not your fault," Red said quickly. "Listen, we didn't know what to do at the time. You did the right thing, trying to help." He frowned as he realized that his words were coming out wrong and tried to rephrase. "I mean, you did good. You did _great_." He put a hand on his face as he now realized that he sounded sarcastic. "I mean, it's the thought that counts, right?"

Platinum remained silent. She let out a long sigh and she sounded very discouraged.

'_Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…_' Red berated himself as he looked down into the ocean. "Sorry, Platinum. But I'm tired and… the words are… tripping over themselves as they're coming out. Just know that you did really well, okay?"

"… If you say so," the girl said quietly. She didn't sound convinced at all, though.

Red sighed and began to pace around as he thought _thoroughly_ about what he was going to say. "Platinum, listen to me. Don't berate yourself. Have more confidence in…" He trailed off as his eyes caught something. "Hold on… what the hell is that?"

"Senior? Have you found something?" Platinum asked, suddenly tensing.

"There's… something that looks like a cave," Red answered. He quickly approached the guardrail right above the cave-like gap on the cliff wall. "I'm going to take a look. Be on guard. If I don't call again in 5 minutes, converge here." He looked up at Y's Fletchinder and waved until he caught its attention. "Y's Fletchinder now knows my location, so if you need to find me, it'll know."

"I understand, senior. Please be careful."

Red hung up and carefully climbed over the guardrail. There were enough gaps on the cliff face that he could use to climb down until he was close enough to the cave entrance. He dropped onto the entrance and took a moment to look.

The cave was… really small. Even at a glance, he could see the wall on the far side, which was… just a couple of meters away.

"… Crap," he muttered in disappointment. He still took a few steps inside just for the hell of it and scanned thoroughly, hoping to find _something_. He soon spotted something and quickly crouched to get a closer look. The sand on the cave floor had a faint… trail of red. Blood?

Red brushed away the sand with his foot as he followed the trail. Before long, he felt something hard under the sand. … Wood? He knelt on the sand and brushed the sand around the wooden object until it became fully uncovered. It was a trap door.

'_Well, this is either an entrance to some hidden treasure and I'll have a hell of a fight to deal with later on, or… this is some secret base of the kidnappers and I'll have a hell of a fight right now._' He carefully opened the trap door and waited for movement. … Nothing yet.

As he waited for possible movements, he considered in calling Platinum and Y. But he decided not to, as he wasn't certain if this was actually what he was looking for, and it was possible that this trap door led to somewhere very dangerous. He didn't want to bring the two young girls into danger for nothing.

Having waited enough, he slowly and quietly climbed down the trap door, using the ladder there. As he climbed, a thought suddenly occurred. If the kidnappers were using this as a secret base, why was the trap door hidden under sand? If the kidnappers were inside right now, there wouldn't be anyone left outside to cover the trap door. … Unless there was another entrance somewhere… OR, someone was left behind outside the base to make sure no one was following them…

Red finished climbing down and crouched to make himself less visible. He looked up at the trap door opening and wondered if he should warn the girls about the potential kidnapper on the watch.

But to warn them, he had to climb back up. And doing so would make noise and use up time. And if there _was_ a kidnapper on the watch, he would undoubtedly know about Red climbing down the secret entrance. So climbing back out would just use up time that-

Red suddenly felt a sharp pain from the back of his head and everything went dark.

When he woke up some time later, he found himself in a brightly lit room, sitting on the floor while leaning against a wall with his arms tied up behind him and restrained against the wall. His legs were tied up as well, so his movements were extremely limited.

He blinked a few times to clear his vision and looked up. There were two people in front of him, and he recognized them as the same people in the video that Blue recorded with her earring camera.

'_Well, it seems like I'm on the right track._'

"He's awake," one of the kidnappers said to the other. "Now what?"

"Now we find out how he found us here," said the man with the eye patch, probably the guy whose eye Blue had raked earlier. "Get the tools."

Red looked around the kidnappers now. The room appeared like the interior of a building, and not a dug-out cave. So that trap door was the entrance to a secret underground room. The room itself wasn't that big, and was largely empty, except for one desk that had a whole ton of stuff piled on top. There were only two kidnappers here, and there was only one door. So it seemed that the kidnappers weren't a part of a larger group, or there'd be a _lot_ more people here, with probably more than one door.

Of course, there could be a whole another facility on the other side, but given the amount of crap on the _one_ desk, it sure seemed like these kidnappers were small-time. If this was just some interrogation room, the objects on that desk would be organized.

Red looked over at his side, and as hoped, he spotted Blue in the same predicament as he was, sitting on the floor with her limbs tied and restrained.

"Blue?" Red called as he strained to get a better look at her.

The girl appeared to be unconscious, as she was sitting slumped against the wall. Her head was facing the other direction, so Red couldn't get a good look at her face. But the amount of blood on her pale skin and clothes was more than enough for him to worry.

One of the kidnappers approached her and dumped a bucket of water on her head. Blue jumped awake and started to cough as a sudden intake of breath caused her wounds to send a jolt of pain. The kidnapper struck her across the face with the empty bucket, causing her to yelp in pain.

"Hey! Get away from her!" Red yelled angrily, thrashing against his restraints.

Blue suddenly turned her head towards him. Red looked at her as well and momentarily pulled back in shock. Her right cheek had swollen, and her right eye remained shut. Red could see some blood around that eye, and winced as he realized that she must've taken a lot of punches to be in this state.

Her visible eye was open wide in surprise, as she did not expect him to be here. Sure, she expected him to save her, but she didn't expect him to be in the same situation as her.

"… Red?" she managed to say, her voice very quiet and shaking. "What… are you doing here?"

"I came to save you," Red answered. He looked down at the chains binding his arms and legs. "… It's actually going a lot better than it looks."

"… How do you figure?" Blue asked.

Red gave her a smile. "I found you, didn't I?"

Blue smiled a little and slowly turned to look at the kidnappers who were preparing something. "… I hope you planned a bit further than this."

Red looked over at the kidnappers. "… I like to think that I learned enough from you." He smirked and slowly narrowed his eyes. "I guess we'll find out."

"I hope you're right," Blue said weakly as she lowered her head again.

One of the kidnappers opened up a toolbox and began to take out various 'interrogation' tools.

Red let out a sigh as he spotted a screwdriver and a hammer. "… In the meantime… this is going to hurt like hell."

* * *

**Part 3 coming!**

**Platinum and Y are coming to the rescue!**


	11. Rescue Effort Part 3

Rescue Effort Part 3:

Six Island, 7 pm…

Platinum and Y reached the edge of the island that Red had talked about. The Fletchinder remained high above from that location, flying around while keeping a close eye on the surroundings.

Y leaned against the guard rail to look casual as she looked around for anything suspicious. Platinum stood next to her and looked at her Pokégear, waiting for her senior to call. But even though it's been 5 minutes, Red hadn't called yet.

"Miss Platinum," Y began in a whisper.

"Yes?"

"If Red isn't calling… we should go after him, right? He could be in danger," Y said worriedly.

Platinum nodded. "Yes. He told me that he would call within 5 minutes, and if he does not call, we should converge on his location. Therefore, we will now investigate the cave he has found and try to rescue our seniors."

For a couple of minutes, the two girls waited while keeping close eyes on their surroundings, in case anyone was watching them. Once they were satisfied that no one was remotely nearby, they scanned the cliff walls to look for the cave. They soon found the entrance that Red had talked about, a couple of meters below their current position.

"I will go first," Platinum said. "Lower me, please."

Y did as told and after getting a firm grip on the guardrail and her senior's wrist, she gently began lowering the heiress towards the cave entrance.

Platinum carefully landed inside the cave and glanced up to see her junior climbing down. After helping the Kalos Dex Holder get inside as well, she let out a short sigh of relief and began to look around.

"This cave is really small," Y said. "Are we even in the right place?"

"Senior Red confirmed the location with your Fletchinder," Platinum said. "And he is out of contact. So it is reasonable to assume that this is the correct place." She crouched and began to investigate the ground. Before long, she found the trap door that was covered beneath the sand. "Ah, here it is." She pulled on the handle and managed to fully open the trap door.

"Perfect," Y said. "Now we can go in there and save our seniors." She took a single step towards the trap door before she paused. "… Wait…"

Platinum paused as well. "… If senior Red had found this and entered…"

"Then why is it covered up again?" Y finished for her.

"… Someone else must have seen senior Red enter and covered it up afterwards."

"Which means, that guy should still be around, waiting for us to go down there too," Y said. "… What do we do?"

Platinum quickly thought of a plan and whispered it to her junior. The Kalos Dex Holder nodded and the two girls moved to carry out the plan.

…

The kidnapper scout slowly peeked into the cave. He saw the two girls climbing down towards the entrance of the base, and like before, he followed the intruder in order to prevent escape and to cover up the trap door once more.

Inside the cave, he saw one of the girls (the one with the long dark hair), almost crouching in front of the open trap door with her back facing the cave entrance. The other girl was nowhere in sight, so the scout assumed that the blonde haired girl had already climbed down the trap door.

He quietly climbed into the cave and slowly crept towards the dark haired girl, who remained oblivious to his presence. He carefully stretched out his arms, ready to put the girl into a sleeper hold and knock her unconscious in a moment's notice.

Platinum focused all of her attention to her hearing, and could hear the faint shuffling of clothes behind her. She took a quick glance at the cave floor and as expected, saw a shadow of a hand stretched out. Although the full shadow of the kidnapper wasn't visible, the heiress could still use the existing shadow to time her movements.

Just as the hand's shadow would be around her shoulder, she quickly ducked with protecting her head and stretched her right leg backwards as much as she could. In that moment, Y dashed out of her cover in the corner of the cave next to the entrance and kicked the kidnapper on the shoulder using all of her running momentum. The kidnapper stumbled sideways from the kick, and immediately tripped over Platinum's right leg, causing him to fall out of the cave and into the ocean a few meters below.

Platinum and Y quickly scrambled towards the cave entrance and looked down. The kidnapper was swimming towards the shore, after quickly recovering from the relatively short fall. Y made a hand signal to her Fletchinder, and ordered it to take care of the kidnapper. The Fletchinder watched the kidnapper from high above, and the moment he had crawled onto shore, rammed into his head at full speed to knock him unconscious.

"Alright, that's one dealt with," Y said with a sigh of relief. "But that guy didn't look like any of those that we saw on the recording. So we still have at least two more guys to deal with."

"We can do this," Platinum said. "We still have the element of surprise."

Y nodded and was about to get up to her feet when she suddenly received a strong kick to the back, sending her tumbling out of the cave. Platinum quickly grabbed her hand so that she wouldn't fall into the water. But before she could even look back to see what just happened, an arm wrapped around her throat and pulled her off the ground, choking her from behind and forcing her to let go of Y.

Y managed to grab the cliff edge just before Platinum was pulled up, thus saving herself from the fall. She reacted quickly and climbed up, realizing that there was another kidnapper who was attacking right now.

"Don't move," the kidnapper warned as he tightened his grip around Platinum's throat.

Y stopped in her tracks right after she finished pulling herself up, hesitant to do anything if it put Platinum in danger as well. The heiress made eye contact and gave her a quick nod.

Just as the kidnapper approached Y, looking to kick her off the cliff again, Platinum rammed both of her heels into his knee with all of her strength, forcing him to stumble forward and freeing herself from his grip at the same time. Y saw the sudden stumble and quickly dropped down to the ground, sliding herself forward and kicked the kidnapper's other knee with both of her feet. The kidnapper stumbled forward even more dangerously, and couldn't stop himself in time to save himself from falling out of the cave.

Y took a quick glance in the cave to make sure that her senior was still there and then looked down the cliff to watch the kidnapper fall. Platinum soon recovered from the choke hold and moved towards the edge to watch the kidnapper as well.

"Well then… that's two down," Y said with a sigh of relief.

"Yes," Platinum said between breaths, looking relieved as well. "There should not be many left."

"This time, I'll go first," Y said as she approached the trap door.

"Be careful."

The Kalos Dex Holder quickly but quietly climbed the ladder. She paused every now and then, focusing on her hearing to see if she could detect anything. But there didn't seem to be anything there. She soon finished climbing down and lowered herself to a crouch to reduce visibility. She glanced around her constantly, keeping her guard up as Platinum began to climb down the ladder.

"I think we're alone here," Y whispered once her senior finished climbing.

Platinum slowly and quietly crept towards the only visible door in the "hallway". She pressed her ear on the door and listened intently.

"This is it," she said in a whisper. "This sounds like the only room. I can hear voices on the other side."

"What do we do?" Y asked quietly as well. "We can't just barge in there."

Platinum thought for a second before she began to whisper her plan once again.

…

Meanwhile…

…

"Blue, what do these guys want?" Red asked quietly as the kidnappers continued to pull out various "interrogation tools".

"… Tech skills," Blue answered weakly. "… They want me to… work on some sort of a machine… … I'm not giving in…"

"But your health is important too," Red said worriedly. "You could've pretended to help them and just delay so that they wouldn't hurt you so much."

"… Never…" Blue said with clenched teeth. "… I'll _never_ help them…"

The kidnapper with the eye patch grabbed a long sharp screwdriver and walked over towards the two Kanto Dex Holders. Red glared at him, hoping that he would come to him and leave Blue alone. Blue kept her head down, as she didn't even want to look at him. One Eye ignored Red completely and soon stood right in front of Blue.

The girl glared up at him defiantly, realizing that he was going to hurt her again. One Eye raised the screwdriver to her eye level, as if he was going to stab her there.

"Ever hear of the phrase, 'an eye for an eye'?" he growled out. Blue remained defiant, not giving him the pleasure of seeing her frightened.

But One Eye smirked and lowered the screwdriver, lightly scratching her cheek as it moved further down. Blue clenched her teeth as she realized where this was going.

The tip of the screwdriver soon stopped at her breast. One Eye gauged both Blue's reaction and Red's before he slowly started to push. Blue began to squirm in pain as the screwdriver was pushed further and further, until the tip pierced her skin. Blue clenched her eye shut as she tried to avoid making a sound, as she didn't want to give him the pleasure of hearing her scream.

"Hey! You bastard!" Red yelled angrily from the side, thrashing against his restraints.

One Eye smirked as he changed his focus to Red, leaving the screwdriver stabbed a few inches deep in Blue's breast.

"Perhaps I need a different approach to properly… _motivate_ you," he said to Blue as he approached Red. He took out a pair of scissors and held it up to Red's neck.

Blue weakly looked up at Red and gasped upon seeing his predicament. One Eye grinned as this was the sort of reaction he was looking for. Without warning, he stabbed the scissors into Red's right leg, right above the knee.

"Red!" Blue screamed out as the scissors went into her friend's leg, up to the handle.

"Ow," Red grunted through clenched teeth. "… Is that the best you can do?"

One Eye didn't respond and simply pulled the handles apart, thus separating the scissor blades that were stabbed deep in Red's leg.

"No, no!" Blue yelled out. "Leave him alone!"

"Shut up," One Eye yelled, striking her across her cheek. "It's odd how you two only react when I hurt the other," he said as he pulled the bloodied scissors out. "It's almost as if you two care more for each other than yourselves." He stabbed the scissors into Red's other leg. "Meaning, if I continue doing this," he said as he pulled the handles apart once more. "You'll eventually give in!"

The door to the room suddenly opened. The two kidnappers in the room instantly turned to look at it. But nothing happened. The door remained open outwards, and no one came inside.

"Go check that out," One Eye said to the other kidnapper.

The other kidnapper took a knife and went to investigate the open door. Upon reaching the door, he peeked around the doorway to see if anyone was hiding there.

From the other side of the door, Platinum and Y timed their movement. They were still hidden thanks to the door itself, and while they couldn't see the kidnapper, they could see the shadow cast by the light inside the room. Platinum looked over at Y and mouthed out a countdown. The moment Platinum counted 0, the two girls immediately kicked the door as hard as they could, effectively smashing it into the kidnapper's head, slamming him into the door frame as well.

The two girls kicked the door into the kidnapper's head once again for good measure, and watched as the man collapsed onto the floor.

Y quickly dragged the man out of the doorway and took away his knife, just in case.

"This looks like the guy that we almost caught in Blue's house," she whispered to Platinum. "So there should be at least one guy left, right? The guy whose eye got raked?"

"Yes. So he should be in there still," Platinum said.

"Hey! Show yourself or she dies!" came the remaining kidnapper's voice from inside the room. "I know you're out there!"

"… Crap," Y muttered. "… Now what?"

"He does not seem to know that there are two of us," Platinum said. "… I will go. You stay here and wait for the opportune moment."

"Are you sure?" Y asked worriedly.

"Yes. And there is no time to argue," Platinum said.

She took a deep breath to ready herself and slowly walked into the room. But the moment she stepped into the room, she had a split second to react as something came flying towards her. She quickly tried to dodge, but felt a sharp pain coming from her right shoulder as the flying object hit her. Platinum quickly pretended to have been hit in the chest as she fell backwards, twisting her body so that she would land face-down on the floor.

"Platinum!" Red yelled out. "No!"

From the hallway, Y gasped in horror as she momentarily believed that her senior had been hit in the chest. But she could see her face, and was relieved to know that the heiress was just pretending. Platinum squirmed in pain, but exaggerated it as if she had been stabbed in the chest. She pushed herself off the ground just barely to see what she had been hit with, and saw what appeared to be a small knife. She soon stopped struggling and remained limp, as if she had lost consciousness.

One Eye watched the new girl squirm for a second before she stopped moving. He didn't know how this girl got here after getting past 3 of his companions. But he was going to find out, though.

He walked towards the girl, occasionally glancing back to make sure that the two existing captives weren't doing anything. They seemed to be shocked and very worried about the new girl, so that was good. It meant that there was now additional leverage to force Blue to cooperate.

He soon reached the new girl and grabbed her by the hair. But the moment he pulled her up, she suddenly kicked him in the knee with both feet, forcing him to fall to one knee.

Y suddenly charged into the room at her top speed and rammed her knee into the kidnapper's face. The process forced her to stumble and fall, but she quickly rolled up to her feet and proceeded to kick the downed kidnapper a few more times just to make sure that he wouldn't be doing any more damage. She stopped kicking him once he stopped moving, and looked around to make sure there were no other kidnappers.

"… We did it," Platinum said after taking a quick glance around the room. "We finally saved seniors Red and Blue…"

"Yes! I knew we could do it!" Y said happily. She quickly ran over towards Red and Blue and began to untie the ropes that bound their arms and legs. "We're so glad we managed to get to you. We were so worried!"

"Thanks, you two," Red said with a warm smile. "You did wonderfully. Great job!"

Blue let out a long sigh of relief as she leaned against the wall. "… Thank you," she said in a tired voice. "It looks like I put my trust in the right people after all."

"You never doubted us, did you?" Red asked.

Blue lightly shook her head. "Of course not, Red. You're Red. You never fail. Thank you." She looked at her two juniors and gave each of them a gentle pat on the arm. "And thank you as well. I'm really proud to be your senior."

"Now come on," Red said. "Let's get the hell out of here and go to the hospital. After that, we can have a big celebratory feast. … And call the police too so the kidnappers don't get away."

* * *

**Finally, the miniseries is over. Now it's back to what SC used to be!**


	12. Halloween Special

**Hope you got a whole ton of candy! … I was supposed to upload this yesterday for Halloween, but… f*cked that up. Anyways…**

**Here's a chapter about two Dex Holders who'd wish they got a crapton of candy instead of… well…**

**And this is the FIRST time outside of Destiny that a certain Dex Holder has some… messed up powers. All in the spirit of SR and its mindless bullsh*t.**

* * *

Halloween Special:

October 31, Veilstone City, Sinnoh, 12 pm…

Platinum waited as Black, White, Faitsu, and Y all gathered one by one. The meeting area was in front of the Pokémon Center, and once everyone was gathered, the five Dex Holders would embark on a little picnic. … Or at least that was the excuse.

"Hi, Lady Platinum," White said with a wave, while holding Black's hand with the other. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Hello, White," Platinum said with a smile. She glanced at her juniors and nodded. "Now that everyone is here, we will get going."

"What about all the others?" Y asked. "And what's this for? We already had your birthday party 4 days ago with everyone invited."

Platinum nodded. "Yes. We already had the party. But that is irrelevant. Lately, there have been rumors that… I am exceedingly scary when upset. I do not know where these rumors originated from, but I do know that some Dex Holders are affected. Namely, you four. Ever since those rumors began, you four have been… acting differently around me. As if you are trying to distance yourselves from me," she said with a hurt expression. "And I do not like that. So I want this to be an opportunity for us to get better acquainted with one another. And for that reason, I did not invite anyone else to this picnic."

…

_3 weeks ago…_

…

"_You know, I've been thinking," Gold began._

"_A scary notion in itself," Sapphire remarked, earning a quick glare from her senior._

"_Do you remember when Bossy Gal said that she wanted some ideas for a scary movie for Pokéstar Studios?"_

"_Yes. That was almost a year ago," Platinum said. "I believe that she has forgotten about it."_

"_Yeah. Which is why this is the perfect opportunity," Emerald said. "It's time to strike when she least expects it."_

"_So we're going to get Bossy Gal to experience all sorts of scary stuff," Gold said. "And we'll put that Plasma girl in too so Bossy Gal isn't lonely."_

"_And we're not going to get Black to stay with White for too long, or things will become… horribly mushy," Emerald said. "I have enough of that crap to deal with on a regular basis."_

_Sapphire perked up. "Huh?"_

"_Nothing," Emerald said. "Anyways. We… bribed Black, so he's on our side in this. We'll start by spreading the rumor that Platinum is REALLY scary when angry."_

_Platinum frowned a little. … Such a rumor would hurt her reputation and her attempts to befriend the juniors._

"_And once we make sure White and Faitsu fall for that rumor, Platinum can take them for a field trip or something to clear the rumor, which we can use to lure them into where we want them," Sapphire said._

_Blue slowly walked into the __**scheme room**__. "And I assume you'll want to lure them somewhere that has a whole ton of scary decorations."_

…

"Where are we going, Miss Platinum?" Y asked as she followed Platinum.

"There is a place called Sendoff Spring in Sinnoh," Platinum answered. "It is connected to Turnback Cave, which we must avoid, but the spring itself is very pleasant. We will camp there for a few days and enjoy the hot springs."

"What's so bad about Turnback Cave that we should avoid it?" Black asked.

"Turnback Cave is where Giratina stays whenever it is not in the Distortion World," Platinum replied. "And deep inside the cave is a permanent portal that leads to the Distortion World. So if Giratina sees us entering Turnback Cave, it may assume that we are trying to invade its dimension."

"And that would be very, very bad," White said. "Okay then, we'll just avoid entering any cave."

For an hour, the group continuously walked, heading into the winding trail between the trees that eventually led to the Sendoff Spring. Faitsu suddenly stopped in her tracks when she felt something drip onto her cap. She looked up towards the sky and saw dark rainclouds forming in the skies.

"It's raining," she said as more raindrops began to hit the ground.

"Oh crap," Y said. "Um… we don't have umbrellas, do we?"

"No. The weather forecast did not say that it would rain this week," Platinum said as she shielded her eyes from the light rain.

…

"_So," Blue said, continuing the scheme. "Once Platinum and the group reach the path to Sendoff Spring, we'll get a few Water types to use Rain Dance. If the weather forecast works in our favor, no one would be prepared for rain, so it would be easier. But even if the forecast predicted rain, no one would want to stay outside in such weather, so it really doesn't matter. But to avoid the rain, Platinum would lead the group towards the abandoned mansion deep in the forest."_

"_Which is actually a set that the television company in Jubilife City uses," Platinum said. "No one has ever lived in it, so it would be okay for us to redecorate it for our purpose. I will check with the television company to ensure that it is indeed okay for us to use it."_

"_And we'll decorate that place with all sorts of scary crap," Gold said. "We'll need to use Death Girl to her full potential here."_

"_That's assuming if she's willing to use her… condition," Blue said. "We shouldn't use her if she doesn't want to help. It's… offensive otherwise."_

"_What's offensive?" Y asked as she entered._

…

"There! There's something!" Black said as he spotted a large structure in a clearing in the forest.

"A building! Let's go there!" Y yelled as she ran straight towards the building.

White and Faitsu paused in their tracks as they looked at the building. It looked like a large creepy abandoned mansion… But Platinum, Black, and Y were already halfway there to the mansion, so the two Unova Dex Holders had no choice but to follow.

By the time the five Dex Holders were at the abandoned mansion, they were all completely drenched by the rain. The girls proceeded to try to wipe the rainwater from their clothes while Black looked around the entrance zone of the abandoned mansion.

"Well… this is creepy," he said, spotting all the worn out paintings and bookshelves with books scattered all over the place.

"The faster we get out of here, the better," White said with a shudder. "Although…" she looked over at Y with an uncomfortable smile. "You… still have that Yveltal's curse, don't you? With you around, I don't think we'll have much to worry about…"

Y turned her left hand into bones and held it in front of her, looking at it. "Well… I suppose so. I mean, it's hard to be scared when I can control resurrected skeletons, and… can't die."

…

"_Do you think you're up to the task?" Blue asked. "It's up to you. If you don't want to or feel that it's…"_

_Y turned her head into a skull and detached it from her neck. She handed her skull to Blue, and when the Kanto Dex Holder reluctantly held it, restored the flesh to appear normal again._

"_I'm pretty sure I can do it," Y said with a smile while her headless body did a little dance. "I can still control my body too, as long as it's within close proximity. Otherwise, it'll just drop."_

"… _Well, that's not disturbing at all," Emerald said as he watched Y's head smiling and talking._

_Blue looked a bit… bothered as well as she held the talking head. "Ugh… yeah…"_

"_Or would you rather I did this instead?" Y asked as she turned her head into a skull again. "It gets kind of hard to talk like this though," she managed to say, sounding very odd since she had no tongue._

"_You're certainly making the best out of that curse, Death Girl," Gold said with a shudder._

"_From Sky Girl to Death Girl, huh?" Y said as she returned her head to normal. "… I think I like Sky Girl better. But yeah, I can do it. I mean, when we pull this off, it'll be Halloween, right? Perfect time, I think."_

"_Okay then," Blue said. "Be sure to split up at the right moment, leaving just White and Faitsu together. We'll take care of the rest."_

…

"I don't think we should stay here," Faitsu said in a scared voice. "We could be disturbing whoever… or _whatever_ that lives here."

"Yeah," White said, sounding freaked out too. "I think I'd rather be out in the rain than stay here. I mean, we're already drenched, so… might as well, right?" She approached the door and tried to push it open. … But the door remained tightly shut, as if locked. "Um…"

"What's wrong?" Black asked.

"The door is… stuck," White said as she struggled to push it open. She checked the hinges to make sure the door was supposed to be _pushed_ open before trying again.

Black joined in trying to force the door open, but the door remained tightly shut.

"Ugh, this door isn't budging," White muttered after ramming her shoulder into the door again. "Hey Y, can you give me a hand here?"

"Sure," Y said. She detached her left hand from her wrist after turning it into bones once again and tossed it to White. "There you go."

White let out a sigh as the skeletal hand hit the floor next to her with a clack. "… Oh, hahaha. Very funny."

"You said you needed a hand," Y said with a shrug.

White rolled her eyes. "You've been hanging out with Gold and Emerald a bit too much. Now reattach that hand and _help me_."

The skeletal hand began to crawl towards Y as she walked over as well. She picked up the hand and reattached it to her wrist, and after making sure that it was attached properly, reformed the flesh to appear perfectly normal again.

"That… was… disturbing," Faitsu muttered from the side.

"Yeah, no kidding," White said with a grimace. "… You sure are making the best of Yveltal's curse…"

"I should make do with what I've got," Y said as she began to push on the door as well.

"Hey, wait," White said as she began to look around.

"What's wrong?" Faitsu asked.

"… Where's… where's Lady Platinum?"

The group turned away from the door and then realized that Platinum had suddenly gone missing.

"… We have to find her," Y said. "We can't leave Miss Platinum here."

"Platinum! Where are you?!" Black yelled.

White jumped in surprise and quickly put her hands over his mouth. "Shhh! You don't know what's in here!"

"Then we'll have to find her directly," Y said. There was a staircase that led up to the second floor, and there was an open door right in front of the staircase. And on the ground floor, there was another open door next to the stairs. "Look, there are two open doors, and there are four of us. So if we split up, we could look for Miss Platinum much quicker."

"Split… up?" Faitsu asked.

"Yeah. I'll search the upper floor," Y said. "You three search the ground floor. I'm splitting us up like this because… well…" She turned her left hand into bones again. "I have nothing to fear."

"Alright then. Good luck," Black said. He then walked towards the open door in the ground floor, not allowing White and Faitsu time to argue about the decision.

Black, White, and Faitsu entered through the open door and carefully proceeded forward. The room was big and very dark. The three Dex Holders paused every now and then to make sure there was nothing else in there with them.

"Um… is that…" Faitsu began, pointing at something on a nearby table.

Black looked over and quickly picked up the object. "A lantern. Good. We can use this… sparingly."

White frowned as bad memories of playing that… horror game last year came to mind. … Black had tricked her into playing that horrendous horror game, where she was chased by some monster with nothing but a lantern to rely on… She glared at Black, wondering if this whole thing was just an elaborate scheme, when Black flipped the lantern on.

And immediately, Black and Faitsu jumped back in surprise. White looked at what Black and Faitsu were so surprised about, and spotted Platinum standing in front of the wall that's been lit up by the lantern. The heiress was facing the wall, and she wasn't moving in the slightest.

"… Platinum?" Black called as he carefully approached her.

White and Faitsu stayed close to Black and carefully approached their senior as well. The heiress remained motionless.

"L – Lady Platinum?" White called this time. … Still no response. "… Something's very wrong…"

Black approached the heiress and put a hand on her shoulder. Still no response. Black took a deep breath and held it, preparing himself. White and Faitsu hid behind him, in case something horrible had happened. Black pulled Platinum by her shoulder, making her spin around.

Platinum didn't fall backwards and remained standing as she now faced the other Dex Holders. White peeked around Black, half expecting to see the heiress with no eyes or something. But fortunately, Platinum still had both eyes intact, and nothing seemed to be particularly wrong. The heiress had both of her eyes opened wide, but she remained seemingly frozen while standing.

"Uh… Platinum?" Black called as he waved a hand in front of her face.

"Are you… okay?" Faitsu asked while staying behind Black.

White gulped nervously and carefully walked towards her senior. She glanced at her up and down, trying to see if anything was wrong. She soon stood next to her and grabbed her hand. Platinum's hand was very cold, as if she had entered shock.

"… I think we should just… grab her and go," White suggested, looking over at Black. "I mean… something's clearly wrong here."

White turned to look at Platinum again and much to her horror, the heiress had turned her head and was looking directly at her as well. White shrieked as she scrambled backwards, before she ran to hide behind Black again.

"Are… you… afraid… of the dark?" Platinum asked in an eerie monotone.

"L – Lady Platinum… what's wrong? What happened?" White asked in terror.

Platinum didn't respond and suddenly let out a shrill laugh as she lifted her arms and dashed forward, as if she was going to lash out with her arms. Black jumped backwards in shock before he shoved her backwards, sending her crashing into the wall. But the wall was apparently a lot weaker than it appeared, as the heiress was smashed through the wall, sending her plummeting into the darkness.

"Lady Platinum!" White shrieked out as she quickly scrambled towards the broken wall. She took the lantern from Black and shined below. She spotted Platinum lying face up on the ground a few meters below with a lot of debris all around her.

"What did you do?" Faitsu asked, her voice shaking.

"I – I… … Look, it was… an accident, alright?" Black stammered out. "Let's just… find Y and get out of here!"

Just then, there was a loud scream from outside of the room. Black, White, and Faitsu quickly spun around. That scream… sounded like Y. The three Dex Holders quietly approached the doorway when they heard the scream abruptly cut off with a sickening… ripping sound. And suddenly, something rolled down the stairs and came into view: Y's head.

White and Faitsu jumped a little, but quickly calmed down, as the "cursed" girl wouldn't be… dead. There was a loud growl as a large figure came into view. The large figure looked to be at least… 3 times bigger than a normal human being, and it stepped on Y's head as it came closer to the door. White quickly shut off the lantern and hid behind a table as Black and Faitsu hid behind other furniture around the room.

The large figure stared into the room for a while before it suddenly threw something at the table that White was hiding behind. The object smashed the table, and White could see that the large figure had just thrown Y's headless body.

"There you are," said the figure in an inhuman voice.

"Run!" Black yelled as he threw a chair at the large figure. White and Faitsu quickly ran towards the door next to the hole in the wall where Platinum fell. The two girls quickly opened the door, and with Black, all three Dex Holders ran inside.

Once the door shut, Y's body rose up and crawled towards the head that was still lying outside the room. After picking up the head, the body put it on its neck to reconnect.

Y grunted as she finished reattaching her head to her body. "Ow, damn it, Gold…" she grumbled under her breath. "Ditto or not, take it easy when you step on my face."

The large figure looked over at her and gave her a hand signal to quiet down. The Ditto that formed the unnaturally large body moved away for a second, revealing Gold's face.

"Quiet down," he whispered as he approached her. "We don't want the two girls to hear us."

"Yeah, yeah," Y grumbled quietly. She rubbed her neck and her jaw for a second before she stood up. "Now for the fun part…"

Meanwhile, Black shut the door behind him and looked around the room. There was a bookshelf that had collapsed onto a bed in the corner of the room, and the bed had some room underneath. Not enough for him, but enough for the two slim girls.

"There," he whispered to White and Faitsu. "You two could fit underneath. Hide there."

White and Faitsu quickly ran towards the bed and crawled underneath. There wasn't a lot of space, but it was just enough for the two of them to crawl under. Black crouched in front of the bed and looked at them.

"Just hide here, okay? I'll go ahead and see if I can find a hiding spot of my own."

Just as Black ran around the corner, the door smashed open and the large figure stepped forth. White and Faitsu held their breaths as the figure walked right past the bed. The figure walked around for a while, seemingly looking at various possible hiding spots, like the lockers lined up on the opposite wall. But it didn't check the bed, though, and after looking around for another minute, left the room through the door it smashed open.

White and Faitsu remained in hiding for another minute before White slowly crawled out. She glanced through the smashed doorway. There was nothing out there anymore, but she didn't want to go that way. She helped Faitsu crawl out of the bed and quickly headed to where Black went.

"Black?" White called quietly as she half crawled forward. "The monster's gone. Where are you?"

White turned the corner that Black had gone around and spotted the boy further ahead. Just like Platinum, Black was standing perfectly still while facing the wall.

"Oh no… not him too," Faitsu whimpered from behind.

White quickly scrambled towards Black and put her hands on his shoulders. … His shoulders were… rock hard. And cold.

"… Black?" White called as she pulled on his shoulder so that he would turn around.

But instead of turning, Black simply fell backwards and hit the ground, and _shattered_ into hundreds of pieces.

"Black!" White shrieked in horror. She then realized that this Black was made of stone.

"… Do you think… this was… the real Black?" Faitsu asked, looking terrified. "The older Dex Holders… they were turned into stone too at one point, right?"

"No… no!" White said, frantically shaking her head. "… This… can't be real. … I didn't save him from a stone just to see him turn into another stone! This has all got to be some sort of a… sick… twisted… joke!"

Faitsu spun around when she heard the loud monstrous growl from around the corner. "W – We should get going…"

White forced herself to look away from the shattered remnants of "Black" and continued forward. There was another door on the far side of the wall.

White slowly opened the door just a bit and peeked inside. … No movements. Good. She pushed the door open a bit more and quietly snuck inside. Faitsu quickly followed, silently shutting the door behind her. The room was very dark, so White turned on the lantern, and suddenly jumped in surprise and Faitsu did as well.

"Wh – What is it?!" she asked in a terrified tone.

White clamped her hand over her heart and took a series of deep breaths to calm down. Faitsu peeked around her and jumped in surprise too.

… In the corner of the room was a bathtub… that had a headless skeleton in it. And there were three mannequins surrounding and facing the bathtub, two holding knives, and one holding a plunger. The mannequin with a plunger was almost covered in dry blood as well.

"What… the… hell…" White muttered, sounding very scared. "L – Let's just… keep going." She shined the lantern around the room and realized that there were more mannequins and skeletons.

There was a skeleton missing its lower half lying face down on the floor, as if it died while trying to crawl away. And a few feet behind it was a line of mannequins facing the skeleton while holding a variety of weapons. And in the opposite corner of the room, there was another line of mannequins surrounding a skeleton sitting on the floor hunched over while holding a giant knife, and there were seemingly dozens of mannequins hacked to pieces around the skeleton.

"… Either all these mannequins were possessed," White began after a shudder. "Or someone had a _very_ twisted sense of humor…"

Faitsu suddenly jumped in terror and grabbed onto White's vest from behind. White jumped in terror as well and spun around.

"Wh – What is it?!"

Faitsu pointed at a particular mannequin with trembling hands. "Was… was that mannequin… always looking at us?"

White looked at the mannequin and noticed that its head had spun all the around to look at the two Dex Holders.

"L – Let's get the f*ck out of here!" White said, her voice shaking badly.

Faitsu scrambled towards the door on the far end and quickly entered. The next room was… just a hallway with another door at the end. White and Faitsu entered through that door as well, and… immediately jumped in surprise.

"… Weren't we… in here just a few seconds ago?" White asked as she stared at the skeletons and mannequins in the room.

Faitsu tried to open the door they just came from, and found it locked. White glanced at the mannequins to see if there was anything different before she shut off the lantern.

"Wh – What are you doing?" Faitsu asked in surprise.

"Saving oil," White answered. "I… did this before… last year. Some jerk made me play it. … Look, if you find any oil cans or… tinderboxes, hand them over, alright? And besides, it's not scary if we can't see it." She grabbed Faitsu's hand. "Now let's just keep going, and be careful not to get separated."

The two made their way through the mannequin room and reached the door on the far side. The hallway room looked exactly the same as the one they were in previously as well. Upon going through the door, they found themselves in the mannequin room once more, but with a few slight differences. The mannequins were in different positions, and a lot more of them were looking in their direction.

The loop continued for several more times, with more and more mannequins appearing in different positions.

White and Faitsu entered through the door again, entering the mannequin room once again. But this time… there were no mannequins or skeletons around.

White and Faitsu turned the corner in the oddly empty room and again, jumped in surprise. Someone had _just_ shut the door ahead, as if that person (or thing) had just entered through the door.

"… We… have to go in there, don't we?" White asked with a groan.

"… Do we?" Faitsu asked.

"I mean… the door behind us is locked. … And I really don't want to turn around. And it's not like we can walk backwards the whole time… Butt-first into danger is… really not wise…"

The two girls spent a few seconds taking deep breaths to calm themselves before moving through the door. When they entered the mannequin room again, they saw that the mannequins were back. The mannequins were all standing in two lines facing each other, with space wide enough for the two Dex Holders to walk between the lines, as if the mannequins were waiting for them.

And the door at the end was open.

"… If those mannequins move…" White said quietly. "… And if we die here… I swear I'm coming back as a ghost to haunt the sick freaks who set this up for _eternity_."

Faitsu held onto White's hand even tighter as the two slowly walked between the mannequin lines and through the open door. With held breath, White opened the next door, expecting to see the mannequin room again. But much to her _great_ relief, she found herself in a new room.

"Is this a garage?" Faitsu asked as she looked around.

The room was huge, and even had a few cars here and there. They all looked to be broken, however. And in the center of the room was a bus.

The bus's headlights suddenly turned on and began to blink just as White and Faitsu took a step forward.

"… Nope," White muttered. "Not going towards that bus."

"Wait," Faitsu said in alarm. "… Do you… hear that?"

White fell silent and focused on her hearing. … She could hear… sobbing? Crying? The voice was unfamiliar, but it was clear that it was a woman crying. And it was coming from… the bus…

"… No," White said, shaking her head. "… F*ck that."

"Have you… come… to help me?" came a voice from inside the bus.

"No!" White yelled. "F*ck all this! I want out!"

"Y – Yes! Please let us go!" Faitsu yelled as well, noticing that White's language was steadily turning more… foul.

"Please help me," said the voice again. "I've been waiting… for so long… No one came…" A light from above the bus suddenly turned on, illuminating the area around the bus. The bus door opened as well. "Please help. If you help me… I will help you…"

White and Faitsu looked at each other, wondering what to do. But they didn't really have any… options. Faitsu pressed her hands over her heart, as White began to walk towards the bus. The two girls slowly approached the open door of the bus, which was on the other side of the bus from them.

The moment they approached the open door, they spotted the skeleton lying face down inside the bus right in front of the door. White and Faitsu momentarily paused, as this skeleton was… different than the others they've seen thus far.

This one was missing both hands and its lower half. Its arms and spine were tied to wooden sticks that were tied together to form a T shape, as if the skeleton was supposed to be like a scarecrow. The skeleton was wearing a faded long white dress… and still had hair on its skull.

The skeleton suddenly rose up, as if some invisible hand had pulled on the T shaped wooden frame. The skeleton looked over at White and Faitsu.

"Please help me," it said in its creepy tone. "I've waited for so long… All you have to do is… give me… your… life…"

White and Faitsu shrieked and jumped back as the skeleton hopped forward. Its skull fell off from the hop and rolled down the stairs of the bus, landing in front of the two girls. The skull began to laugh as it continued to hop towards the two girls.

White and Faitsu screamed again and scrambled backwards, but much to their horror, their backs hit something that was standing right behind them. They swiveled around and saw… Black?

"Black!" White exclaimed in surprise. "… What… How?!"

The lights in the room suddenly turned on, brightly illuminating the whole area. White and Faitsu looked around, obviously bewildered. They even heard… applause?

"What… what is going on?" Faitsu muttered as she looked around. Familiar faces began to appear from various hiding places, applauding them.

"… Lady Platinum?" White muttered in shock when she spotted the heiress smiling apologetically at her.

There was some sort of a scraping noise from behind, causing both White and Faitsu to swivel around in shock. The skeleton that had scared them last was reattaching its arms and legs after freeing itself from the T shaped frame. The skeleton picked up its skull and took off the wig that was taped onto the skull, before reattaching it onto its neck. It then removed the small… radio that was taped onto the ceiling of its mouth. The skeleton then began to reform its flesh.

"… Y…" White muttered as everything suddenly snapped into place.

"Remember when you said that you wanted some inspiration for a horror movie?" Y asked as she rubbed her joints to make sure she had reattached her limbs properly. "Here you go! Happy Halloween! I hope you got enough from this adventure!"

Faitsu glared at White, who had smacked a hand over her face. "Did you… know about this?"

"No," White answered, shaking her head. "… I forgot about that… inspiration thing… That was over a year ago…" She clenched her hands into fists and furiously glared at the Dex Holders that were there. "And _this_ was _certainly_ not what I had in mind when I asked for inspiration! Seriously! What the hell?!"

"Hey, we took it easy on you," the big monster said as the Ditto began to morph away, revealing Gold. "We didn't want to give you a heart attack, you know."

"You guys are the… biggest jerks in the whole planet!" White yelled angrily. "… Lady Platinum… I _never_ thought that you'd be a part of this…"

"My apologies," Platinum said. "But it was… amusing to watch."

White slowly turned to face Black, her rage building more and more. She couldn't vent her fury at any Dex Holder _except_ one, and he was going to face the full extent of her wrath…

"… Were you in on this?" she asked in a deadly tone, glaring at Black.

Black rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh… sort of. But not really."

"He agreed to this when we told him that we'd convince senior Red to train him for a week," Gold said from behind.

Black gulped in horror as White's eyes narrowed even more. "Uh… it's not what it sounds like…"

"Black," White said oddly calmly. "… I'm giving you a 30 second head start before I run back in there, grab the knife and chase after you. … Make the most of it."

"Can't we… talk about this?" Black asked.

"… One…" White counted while maintaining her deadly glare. "Two…"

Black gulped again and began to run as fast as he could manage.

White continued to _count_. "… Three… _Thirty_." Instead of a knife, she grabbed the T shaped wooden frame that Y was tied to and began to sprint after Black.

Faitsu let out a shuddering sigh as she dropped to a crouch, as the sudden relief and… rage had drained the strength from her legs.

"Come, Faitsu," Platinum said nicely as she gently pulled her junior back up to her feet. "We should go get dinner now. You have had quite the afternoon."

"Yeah…" Faitsu muttered after another sigh. "… At least… it's over. And… please don't do something like this ever again."

* * *

**In celebration of the BW2 arc continuing, I've chosen White and Faitsu to be the main characters here, to be scared sh*tless over and over and over! But hey, at least it was all for laughs and no permanent damages were done. Physically, at least.**

**And for the first time outside of Destiny, Y has Yveltal's curse.**


End file.
